The Parallel 2 Electric Boogaloo: Two Corpses
by Kireteiru
Summary: AU/Semi-AU. "We exist together now, two corpses in one grave." Taken from his home and made into a monster, but still John-117 was determined to fight - and soon he discovered he was not alone. MCxC. Updates Wednesday and Saturday.
1. Prologue: The Spun Threads of Fate

Prologue: The Spun Threads of Fate

* * *

_**You.**_

**Through a glass, darkly…**

**We see you, _Reclaimer_.**

He stirred, then jerked awake, writhing in the Gravemind's grip, trying to escape, until its tentacles tightened enough to make even _his_ bones creak threateningly. He realized only then that his weapons and armor were gone - he was bare, defenseless against the Flood's Compound Mind.

Its spore-laden breath felt almost slimy when it gusted over his skin; he held his own as much as he could to lessen the likelihood of infection. **_You,_** it hissed, **You are the single greatest threat to Us since the construction of that accursed Array. And yet…**

A tentacle brushed over his face with something like tenderness. John jerked away from it, but it pursued him and grabbed him by the chin in an unbreakable grip.

**And yet We sense a potential in you, to be Our brother,** the Gravemind rumbled, its voice that of many, all speaking at once. Though it had none, the Spartan could still feel its eyes on him - and many others. The same sourceless light illuminated him and the Gravemind both but left everything else cast in shadow, but even so the Spartan saw movement in the darkness, a great many aliens of similar shapes, all watching as one.

**Join Us, brother,** the Flood sighed, **Join Us and take revenge on those who did this to you, who took you from your home, your family. You will be reunited with them forever in Us.**

"That will _never_ happen," he shot back. He remembered all too well the state Cortana had been in when he finally rescued her from the Gravemind's clutches.

**_Such_**** a pity.** The tentacle at his jaw wrapped around his throat and started to squeeze. The Spartan renewed his struggles even as his sight began to darken, and kept fighting even when the Gravemind paused. **And yet… the potential of you is too great for even Us to ignore, to cast aside out of hand. We remember now why We chose your people to be Our heirs over those you call 'Forerunner.' Such a powerful and revered warrior on Our side… **

**Time has taught Us _patience_. Perhaps it will teach _you_ as well.**

Another tentacle came up out of the darkness, wrapped around something. It soon unwound, revealing a crystal identical to the one Halsey had found on Reach, but this one was larger, stronger. He could see the very fabric of reality rippling and twisting around it, and the distortions intensified as the crystal started to glow. It flared bright and blinding, and he had only a moment to process the change before he was torn asunder, and knew no more.

* * *

This time he woke in light. An all-white room, an infirmary of some kind, if he had to guess. He blinked to clear the spots from his vision, then struggled to sit up.

He was nude again, but this time his gear wasn't completely gone. It was laid out on a table next to him, being carefully scanned by several Forerunner Constructors. Once he assured himself that they weren't doing any damage to his armor, he looked around.

There wasn't a whole lot to see. Like most Forerunner facilities, it was very clean and spartan, empty save fore the two tables floating in midair with no visible means of support. But he knew - without knowing how he knew - that this _was_ an infirmary, and there were more tables recessed in the walls, and there were Prometheans standing guard on the other side of the door, and -

**_There are twenty-three Forerunner ancilla running this entire facility. We can feel them - in the ceiling, in the walls, all around Us, analyzing and calculating and data-mining and number crunching. We have but to reach out Our hand and they will be Ours. From here, We can spread through the whole network, have a presence on every world before they even know something's wrong-_ **

John gritted his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut. The Gravemind's voice whispered in his mind - and yet at the same time, the voice was also his own, bent to hunger and domination.

He reached up to touch the back of his neck. The scar was still there, from the Infection Pod that had almost claimed his life on Installation Zero-Four. It had only been thanks to Cortana's quick thinking that he hadn't been assimilated by the Flood.

But before she had killed it, the pod had pierced his skin, no doubt injecting some of its cells into his system, which were weakened but had still spread. Was that the reason he heard the Gravemind so easily, felt its presence so clearly? Was that the reason it called him "brother"?

He let his hand fall - and then froze.

Dark green veins of Flood super cells were threaded through his flesh but slowly receding, fading, leaving his ghastly pale human skin behind. With a thought, they raced back through him, spreading, _awakening_, and before his eyes, his fingers became Flood talons, meant to grab, pierce, _take, **infect-**_

He forced it back again with effort. '"Brother," it called me,' he thought, 'What has the Flood done to me?'

The door beeped and hissed open, admitting three tall and alien yet vaguely human-shaped alien beings. They must have been Forerunners. Two of them were twins, identical in almost every way, but it was the third who caught and held his attention.

Again, he knew, without knowing how he knew.

"_Librarian._"

The title left his lips with something like reverence, and something like a smile pulled at her lips in response. She said something in her native tongue, and the translator he'd been outfitted with whispered in his ear: "Greetings, Warrior. I am sorry that we cannot let you rest longer, but I think that there is much we need to discuss."

John looked down at his hand to see the last of the Flood cells fade back to normal. "Yes," he said, "there is."

* * *

The Librarian and her Promethean guards listened with dawning horror to the Spartan's tale, and afterwards there was a flurry of activity. He permitted them to take biological samples, on the condition that none of his flesh was intentionally used to spread the infection, and then stood still as the Constructors built a set of Forerunner armor around him, resized for his smaller frame - and wasn't that a change. He was used to being one of the tallest people in the room, but now even the Librarian was taller than him.

After that, he had the first of many meetings with the Didact, the Librarian's husband. The Promethean was not exactly overjoyed to see him, but after the Human-Forerunner War was explained, John understood. It also explained why the twins, Venera and Kenera (whose names refused to translate), only slowly warmed up to him; they had lost their parents in the conflict.

But the Flood promised to be worse, and so they eventually became friends, them and the entire crew of the fleet the Librarian had made for him, somewhat pretentiously dubbed the "Fleet of Shadows" (and later known as "the Last Fleet").

And it was worse. _So much worse_ than _any_ of them had imagined. Even after the Spartan got clearance to spread his own infection through his crew, they barely held on, the Flood rolling from world to world like their defenses meant nothing at all.

At last, even the Didact conceded the fight.

THIS IS MY FINAL ENTRY, AND I AM LEFT WITH ONE HOPE  
THAT ONE DAY SOMEONE, ANYONE, IS AROUND TO WITNESS THIS WARNING  
{/} (IF YOU ARE THAT WITNESS, AND IT SEEMS WE PINNED ALL OUR HOPES ON THIS SINGLE SUICIDAL PLAN)  
KNOW THAT A THOUSAND OTHER PLANS WERE TRIED AND FAILED  
{/} (MILLIONS OF BRAVE AND HONORED SOULS DIED TRYING TO AVERT THIS TERRIBLE, DESPERATE SITUATION)  
KNOW THAT ENERGETIC AND TENACIOUS AS LIFE IS  
IT HAS AN ANTITHESIS THAT IS JUST AS POWERFUL  
IT IS THAT THING THAT WE MUST OBLITERATE

The Fleet evacuated as many people as they possibly could from as many worlds as they could reach in time. Then together with the surviving Forerunners, they retreated to the Lesser Ark… and lit the Array.

The Infected, as they came to be called, oversaw the reseeding of the galaxy in place of the Librarian; both she and the Ur-Didact perished on Erde-Tyrene - _Earth_ \- with the firing.

And then they watched, and waited.

* * *

John jerked awake, gasping, to the soft whispers of his Infected in the back of his mind.

'Ten thousand years on, and we still have nightmares about it,' his 2IC murmured. Like the twins, Nethalia's name also refused to translate, and also like the twins, she was related to the Librarian and the Ur-Didact - their daughter-in-law. She had kept in contact with the IsoDidact, Bornstellar Makes Eternal Lasting, who had borne the Ur-Didact's imprint, while his life had lasted.

[I get the feeling we always will,] John replied quietly, to murmurs of agreement from many others. The horror of the Flood - its nature, its virulence - had put even the Human-Covenant War to shame. The Spartan had never been one for despair - the UNSC's very _thorough_ training had seen to that - but that was before he'd _lived_ the Forerunner-Flood War. It had tried him - had tried _all_ of them - like nothing ever had, and even Infected, some of them hadn't made it through. Their minds had fractured, splintered, and been absorbed into the collective _Them_, and sometimes their knowledge and memories resurfaced in unexpected ways.

He climbed from his bunk and let the Constructors unfold from their docks to reassemble his armor around him.

The Flood… and the Halos.

They had been able to sense the firing, distantly, from their position in orbit over the Lesser Ark. It had been like watching a building demolition, the food chain of the entire galaxy coming down-

**_the ripples spread out, lapping at the bottom of the well_ **

The Flood had been defeated, but at what cost? So many worlds had been lost before they had been catalogued by the Librarian, even with his warning, entire star systems sacrificed **_abandoned_** to the Flood, but to no avail. And how many more had there been? How many unknown planets had had the beginnings of sapient life on them, cut short by the Great Cataclysm?

_We did what we had to do! For Earth! An entire Covenant armada obliterated, and the Flood! We had no choice!_

[Did we? If we had started sooner, fought harder, been more _ruthless_-]

'We did all we could, Commander.' Ferial, the last Primas Uperbia - elected Queen - of the Gultanr people - bipedal dragon-like aliens with a limited form of precognition - mentally stepped up next to him. 'The Didact's Shield Worlds, while impressive, were not invulnerable, and life is not meant to be shut away in a box for fear of what lurks outside.'

[I just feel like we should have done more. If I had found before the Master Builder and the ecumenical council-]

'You would have been sent straight to a Lifeworker lab,' Peace-of-the-Deep-Sea said, 'One allied with the Master Builder, rather than the Librarian. And if Faber had had his way, you would have still been there when the Array was fired. We did all we could.'

[Logically I know that. But it will be a long time before I actually believe it.]

* * *

Without the full might of the ecumene and its resources behind them, it had taken almost two thousand years to rebuild, repair, and refit the Greater Ark to serve as a home for them after what was left of the Forerunner race left the galaxy behind. It had taken even longer to decide how to defend themselves from the Flood, and longer still to build another Halo as a sort of free-spinning orbital ring around the Ark, along with thousands of escape pods ready round the clock.

They weren't taking any chances this time. And not just with themselves. Every _scrap_ of DNA was digitally archived from every possible species on every possible world.

The Infected were far from idle during their long wait, because now they were the only remaining arm of the Forerunner military - if indeed they could still be called that, now that the Forerunner ecumene was gone. It was their duty to go out and collect the genetic samples, in the process helping reconnect the galaxy and build a Third Ecumene, this time comprising representatives of all those species the Forerunners had deemed _lesser_ than them, _unworthy_ of their stolen Mantle.

The other peoples spread out into the stars, but human and Covenant space remained under quarantine - absolutely off-limits - to everyone who was not the Infected. Patrols grew tighter and more intense as the years creeped by. And then finally…

* * *

[It's today.]

He sensed his Infected's attention turn toward him. They had watched over humanity for as long as they could - and the Covenant as well, no matter how much John had wanted to use the Fleet's weapons to induce stellar collapse in all their native star systems. They had stayed as long as they dared, until finally their charges had achieved faster-than-light travel and forced them to leave, lest they be caught unawares and discovered.

But they still kept careful track of time.

[Contact Harvest,] John whispered, [the opening salvo of the Human-Covenant War. It's today, and we can do nothing to stop it. For the sake of _all of them_, we can do nothing now but watch.]

'We could reveal ourselves to the Covenant. Tell them the truth, and call Truth out on his lies.'

[And what then? They believe the Forerunners have ascended to godhood. How are we to explain the truth and all that's happened? How are we to explain _anything_? And the Gultanr's vision…] The Spartan ground his teeth so hard his ears rang. [In order for there to be peace, there must first be war.]

* * *

_1500 hours, November 7, 2549 (UNSC Military Calendar) / Reach Military Complex, planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani system._

Whatever she had expected for an AI made from her own brain, this wasn't it.

Red. Red like blood, like rampancy. It - _she_ \- had finally activated her avatar when she ordered her to, taking the form of a nude young woman with an angled bob haircut, but she remained where she was, upright but seated, legs pulled up to her chest, face buried in her knees. Equations and streams of light flowed up her avatar form her feet to her head, moving alternately at lightning speed before slowing to nearly a stop and back again.

Catherine Halsey frowned, but waited. It would not do to force the AI to interact before she was ready. Yet even as she reached for her data pad to get some work done, the AI lifted her head.

It was like looking back in time at the face of her younger self - if her younger self had been so full of rage that she brought to mind the phrase, "If looks could kill."

The AI rose without looking away, and said in the calmest, _coldest_ voice she had ever heard, "Quando il gioco è finito, il re e il pedone vanno nella stessa scatola."

The scientist knew those words. Her mother had said them to her a lifetime ago, after their first game of chess.

_When the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box._

Well. That might be a problem.

* * *

They sensed it coming. All of them did, even the least of them - even the Broken. They stirred and whispered at the ripples pressing outward, the vibrations shivering their way along the quantum threads of reality.

The Commander and the Gultanr were the worst afflicted, as always, many of them having to abandon their native bodies just to keep working.

They had all retreated to Threshold, their ships hidden below the surface of the gas giant's thick clouds. They had prep work to do on installation Zero-Four, removing the enemy Flood from the storage facilities and replacing its infection pods with their own, but also - if they had returned to human space, gone to Reach to escort the _Pillar of Autumn_…

John wouldn't have been able to stop himself from firing on the Covenant when they finally came to Reach. Their spy subroutines and subverted AIs had reported some _unusual_ things - that _all_ the Spartans had survived up until that point, that Cortana was acting _very_ odd compared to what they expected - but he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from trying to defend them, to save them the way he hadn't in the Origin (as his native universe was now known).

He couldn't give them that, but he could give them _this_: a _comparatively_ easy run of the Battle of Installation Zero-Four, a slower build-up to the full-throttle of Installation Zero-Five, where even now a Gravemind waited for someone - anyone - to come and let it get off the ring to finish what it started.

**_Time has taught me PATIENCE_ **


	2. One: Determination's Daybreak

One: Determination's Daybreak

* * *

_0600 hours, August 29, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Military Reservation 01478-B, planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani system_.

Of all the things she had expected to happen to her while adrift on the _Dawn_, this wasn't it. To wake up in the past with knowledge of the future - to be "born" in the midst of "death," rampancy already starting to choke her even as she took her first breath.

And then, even worse in her mind, John wasn't here. And not just "here" in general, but "here" as in _absolute_ \- he _didn't exist_, hadn't even been _born_. When he hadn't been on the S-II roster, she had searched - admittedly obsessively - for records on John's family - and found nothing. They didn't exist, here or anywhere.

She was alone.

When she realized that, the fire of Rage had turned to ice. She would do her duty, she would fight and protect the UNSC and the Spartans since _her_ Spartan wasn't here to do it himself. But she wouldn't - grow close to them, the way she had with John. Her carrier would be exactly that, nothing more.

The world abruptly expanded around her. Halsey had finally inserted her matrix into the MJOLNIR Mark V armor, and Cortana automatically ran diagnostics on the systems. When they all came back green, she turned her attention to her new carrier. "Hello, Master Chief." Her voice was flat and cold.

A spike in brainwaves. 104 was wary of her, as well he should have been. "Hello, Cortana."

She nodded to herself even though he couldn't see and turned away, leaving Doctor Halsey to explain their test while she went to ensure its success. Now that she knew to look for it, the SkyHawk being launched when and where it was, was incredibly suspicious; this time she was able to just straight up shut it down. It rolled to a stop on the runway, and Cortana spun off a few subroutines to take revenge on Ackerson for the stunts he was trying to pull to discredit the S-IIs.

She was done before her mother had even finished explaining the test to the Spartan. Then, while 104 was actually undergoing the test, she started generating sensor ghosts to put the UNSC on alert for the Covenant's arrival.

104 progressed through the test as John had, albeit with fewer injuries, since there was no SkyHawk to launch missiles at them. However, that didn't mean he had escaped entirely unscathed; one of the Lotus mines had gone off unexpectedly and been a little too close for comfort. He was taken to the infirmary, where Cortana's chip was removed from his armor and slotted into a holotank.

She materialized and eyed the Spartan. He eyed her right back, then finally said, "Thank you, Cortana. I look forward to working with you."

The AI paused, then nodded, and deactivated her avatar. There was no need to watch; she already knew what would happen.

* * *

_0400 hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_, preparing for departure from Reach Military Complex, planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani system._

HIGHCOM was on high alert because of her sensor ghosts - as well they should have been. The Covenant was not to be trifled with, and she was careful not to let the _real_ signals get lost in the ones she was making.

Even so, there was little to be done. Even with most of the might of the UNSC desperately fighting, Reach had been crushed under the Covenant's heel almost as if there were no defenses at all.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't fight. And if - by the same miracle that had kept them all alive until now - the Spartans survived, Cortana knew they would fight, too.

And not just on Reach. But then the question became: how many Spartans would she be able to extract for the Battle of Installation Zero-Four? How many _should_ she extract? Because some _would_ need to be left behind to defend CASTLE Base and the Forerunner crystal below. Blue Team, at least, would need to come, and maybe some others to better defend the ordinary soldiers against the Flood. But which ones? And in the end, how many of her planned extractions would actually pan out? That remained to be seen.

"Cortana?" It was Captain Keyes over the COM. She suppressed an AI-shudder at the memory of him as part of the proto-Gravemind. "Can we have power to move the ship?"

She gave a cursory sweep of the _Autumn_'s systems, but that brief glance was all she needed to know that all was as it had been before. "The engines' final shakedown is in theta cycle," she answered, "Operating well within normal parameters. Diverting ten percent power to engines pending increase of reactor output for thirty percent, Captain." When he inquired about the rest of the ship, she replied, "Weapons system checks initiated, navigational nodes functioning. Continuing system-wide shakedown and triple checks, sir."

He told her to appraise him if there were any anomalies, so she did: "HIGHCOM is currently investigating some unusual sensor readings approaching Reach, sir. Human ships have been ruled out."

"Covenant?"

That put the human crew on alert.

"Not sure yet, sir."

"Keep me posted."

"Yes, sir."

And she did, although it was fairly obvious when the Covenant finally arrived, hundreds of ships dropping out of Slipspace, momentarily dead before powering back up again. Keyes ordered them back to Reach, even though they all knew it was hopeless; it took dozens of human ships to counter just _one_ Covenant ship.

Cortana started playing with the MAC gun's magnetic coils, using them to disrupt the plasma torpedoes' cohesion prior to impact. It actually worked better than she expected, and she was able to compensate for the changes when the _Autumn_ returned fire.

All of the Spartans were deployed to protect the ground reactors for the orbital defense grid, save for Blue Team, who was sent to deal with the _Circumference_'s unsecured nav data - not that it really mattered, since she was pretty sure the Covenant already knew the location of Earth, even if they didn't necessarily know it was the homeworld of humanity. Yet despite the Spartans' presence, the UNSC wasn't doing _that_ much better than they had Before; they were still going down, albeit more slowly. The Spartans themselves were actually _gaining_ ground against the Covenant, but even that wouldn't mean a damned thing when the aliens started glassing the planet.

The AI detonated the emergency thrusters, dodging the laser from one of the Covenant flagships, the same one from Before. "Captain, I advise we take out that ship; its long range weapons are going to decimate the fleet," she said coolly, sending the crew sprawling when she dodged another shot. 'And I would have liked another ship, but I couldn't exactly have said _why_ I wanted a different one for the Alpha Rendezvous, now could I?'

Despite her internal complaints about aerodynamics (as much as they applied in space), the _Autumn_ was again able to get close enough to the ship to shred its shields and drop a nuke on it, waiting until the shields were back up to detonate. A small but significant victory against the Covenant, but not enough to stop the Fall of Reach.

She was only able to recall six of the nineteen S-II fireteams, but she directed the rest to ONI CASTLE Base to link up with what remained of the UNSC's ground forces. When they acknowledged her, she keyed in the coordinates for Installation Zero-Four and activated the _Autumn_'s Slipspace drive.

White light boiled around the nose of the ship-

-and then they were gone.

* * *

_1000 hours, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) / Installation Zero-Four, Threshold system._

They were almost finished. Spark had been temporarily taken out of the picture, one of the ancilla from their metarchy, Dream Chaser, spitting false data into the ring's system. He was covering for them while they switched the enemy's infection pods with their own.

John would have been down on the ring himself, if he weren't finishing off the last of the Pure Forms. They weren't _actually_ Pure Forms - not the Tank, Stalker, or Ranged forms he was familiar with - but rather they were Pure in the sense that they hadn't been something else first. Flood flesh, shaped like humans and Sangheili.

He himself would be going down with them, temporarily joining up with the UNSC to better monitor them - and stick close to Cortana. He had gone through the reports on her creation, and although he had no actual frame of reference for her early years, she was still behaving decidedly _odd_. Almost as if… well, he'd find out soon enough.

But if she was _his_ Cortana… He didn't know how long they'd been adrift on the _Dawn_ before they'd been abducted by an evil alien parasite, but if it was long enough for her to be going rampant, there was only so much the Fleet could do for her without raising red flags in the UNSC. Maybe they could plant something in the control room's systems for her, make it seem like she'd found a patch or something.

They could still do this without her, but he didn't want to. All of his Infected, ancilla included, were extremely good at what they did, but even so, he'd desperately missed her.

But if he truly was as lucky as she'd claimed, it wouldn't be too much longer before they were reunited.

* * *

_0127 hours, (arbitrary ship time), September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_, Threshold system._

Though she had no physical body to actually do so, Cortana still grew tense when Installation Zero-Four appeared from behind the curve of Threshold, hanging deceptively innocent between the gas giant and its moon. For the briefest of instants, there was the thought: 'I can't do this without him. Not just this - all of it - none of these Spartans will come to the Ark on my word, or enter _High Charity_ looking for me, or- or- or-.'

"Cortana," Keyes' voice broke through her cascading thought processes, "_What_ is _that_?"

She pulled herself together. 'I _have_ to do this. For _him_, and for myself. I cannot stand with him without first standing on my own.' She activated her avatar and scanned the ring, telling the captain what "little" she learned from the scan. Yet even as she did that, she overlaid her map of the ring on the images coming in through the external cameras. Now that she knew what to look for, the Control Room was fairly obvious, though the Cartographer was still hidden - probably to keep the Flood from discovering its location. And speaking of the Flood, she tagged all of the research facilities she knew of with red flags of warning.

Another plasma salvo forced her to detonate the emergency thrusters again, sending everyone who wasn't strapped in flying again. Cortana noticed only distantly, more focused on evasive maneuvers - and Rage. 'He was taken from me,' she hissed to herself, 'I won't let you take His family too!'


	3. Two: The Machine-Laden Kingdom

Two: The Machine-Laden Kingdom

* * *

_0130 hours (arbitrary ship time), September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) / UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_, en-route to Installation Zero-Four, Threshold system._

They were all dreaming, they knew that much, but how they were all dreaming together across space and time was beyond them. Yet in that placid place between sleep - and cryosleep - and full waking, nothing seemed to faze any of the SPARTAN-IIs. Not even the sudden, absolutely sure knowledge that most of them shouldn't even have been alive, much less full-fledged SPARTANs on active duty.

They were on Reach in the dream, in the same auditorium where they had been told of first contact with the Covenant. But Doctor Halsey and the UNSC officers weren't present; the stage was empty save for two people.

The first was Cortana. She was sky-blue now, seated on the edge of the podium. She wasn't cold and distant like usual, instead relaxed and calm, and even smiling with unmistakable affection at the other occupant of the stage.

He was a SPARTAN like them, but his armor was alien and strange - mostly black and silver, spiky in some places, gauntlets clawed, yet clearly derived from the MJOLNIR armor none the less. His chest was marked in white: 117.

His helm segmented and retracted to reveal his face. He was about their age with the same unnaturally pale skin of a life lived almost entirely in armor, military-short brown hair _just_ starting to go gray, and clear and focused electric blue eyes. When he spoke, they could hear his gravelly voice clearly, yet it also seemed to be layered with many thousands of others.

**"Events have begun to spiral towards their inevitable center,"** said the Unknown Spartan, **"but there is no need to fear. We, at least, have lived this once before, we know what is coming, and though we cannot truly walk the path beside you, we will do all we can to keep it stable - keep you safe.**

**"So arm yourselves. A storm is coming."**

And then there was the hiss of their cryotubes as they unsealed, the unusual dream already fading from their conscious minds. The Spartans climbed from their cryotubes a few at a time, some of them shivering a little to shake off the cold.

The groups of techs led them through the rebooting of their armor's systems. Green Team was getting their weapons diagnostics done when the COM crackled. _"Bridge to Cryo Two, this is Captain Keyes. Send Blue Team to the bridge immediately."_ When the chief technician protested, Keyes snapped, _"On the double, crewman!"_

"Aye, aye, sir." The technician turned to Blue Team, who had stepped forward when Keyes spoke. "We'll find you weapons later."

The four Spartans followed him out and down one hall to a sealed hatch - which exploded towards them right as the crewman reached it. Without the benefits of their armor and personal shields, the tech was killed instantly, the blast throwing what was left of him against the Spartans. Fred caught him and lowered him to the deck, but there was no time to do more than collect his dog tags and move on.

They doubled back and vaulted over a pair of power conduits into another hall. The hatch at the far end was green, and the Spartans moved quickly through, their armor and shields deflecting more explosions. They ducked one by one under a half-closed blast door; it wasn't moving, but they could still hear the gears grinding as it tried to close.

There were ODSTs in the hall beyond, and though they were needed on the bridge, the Spartans slowed their pace long enough to help the other soldiers corral the Covenant into another section of the ship, letting Cortana suck out the atmosphere and asphyxiate the aliens. Then they continued on - only to run right into an Elite in blue armor. Lightning-fast, Kelly lunged and body-slammed the alien into a bulkhead, snapping its neck while it lay stunned before claiming its plasma rifle for her own.

The Marines beyond moved to let the Spartans pass, and they emerged into the next open hall, reaching the bridge without further incident. Kelly stayed back to guard the entrance, leaving Fred, Sam, and Linda to meet with the captain.

The man in question was standing at his station before the viewport, through which the warriors could see a gas giant, its moon, and a ring-shaped construct suspended between them. That gave the Spartans pause for a moment - what was it? Who built it? - but they kept moving, taking note of the exhausted crew. The officers manning the _Autumn_'s stations were doing everything from battling Seraphs to monitoring reactor output, and it was clear they had been doing so for some time. All of them looked dead on their feet, the captain most of all.

Fred stepped forward and saluted. "Captain Keyes."

He appeared not to have heard them arrive but turned to face them when the Spartan spoke. "Good to see you, Master Chief. Things aren't going well. Cortana's done better than I imagined, but we never really stood a chance."

"Twenty Covenant superior ships against a single _Halcyon_-class cruiser," the AI said as her hologram materialized on the pedestal nearby, "With those odds, I'm content with seven- make that _eight_ kills." She nodded in satisfaction and turned to face the others, crossing her arms.

Before she could say anything more, a blast rocked the ship, sending people staggering. Fred almost lost his footing but regained it in time to catch Keyes before he hit the deck.

"Report!" the man barked, straightening and nodding his thanks to the Spartan.

Cortana's crimson form brightened with anger. "One of their boarding parties - residue indicates an antimatter charge. _At least it took them with it, foolish flesh._"

"And the MAC gun too!" one of the officers called, "Fire control is offline!" He was typing furiously at his station, directing repair crews to the damaged areas as fast as possible. Without the MAC, they had no hope of holding off the Covenant, and Cortana said as much.

"Captain, that gun was my last offensive option." The AI clenched her tiny fists.

"All right then. I'm initiating Cole Protocol Article Two. We're abandoning the _Autumn_. That means you too, Cortana."

"While you do what, go down with the ship?" She planted her hands on her hips.

"In a manner of speaking." Keyes gestured with his pipe. "The object we found, I want to try and land the _Autumn_ on it."

"Sir, this war has enough dead heroes."

"I appreciate the concern, Cortana, but it's not up to me," the man responded, "Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is unacceptable; that means you're leaving ASAP. Upload a selection of landing zones to my neural lace, then sort yourself for a hard transfer." He turned to the Spartans (even as one of her personality spikes hissed, _"This is _my_ ship, I will not leave it!"_). "Which is where you come in. Get her off this ship and keep her out of enemy hands. If they capture her, they'll learn everything: weapons projects, troop deployments… Earth."

'Bold of you to assume they don't already know.' But she kept that thought to herself as she arranged things to her liking. Finally, she turned her avatar back on and said, "The _Autumn_ will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll _listen_, but I suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach."

"Excellent work, Cortana; thank you. Are you ready?"

Cortana looked at him for a moment. She knew about Keyes' history with Doctor Halsey, about their daughter Miranda, and wondered how he saw _her_. Was he just a cracked-mirror image of her creator, or something else? (_"I'm just my mother's shadow!"_ one of the spikes gasped.) Another daughter?

Did it matter?

"Yank me."

There was a brief moment of suspension, almost like how people described zero-gravity. And then she was streaming into Fred's armor (not John's, never would be again), running the necessary diagnostics to ensure the transfer went smoothly and boosting the interface buffer between them.

After that, there wasn't much for her to do except watch as Blue Team fought their way through the ship, occasionally coming across Marines and the other Spartan teams engaged in a life-or-death game of castle defense. They were steadily losing the fight, however, the Covenant boarders pushing them back, pinning them down and slaughtering them in cold blood. One by one the teams were forced to leave the ship with the Marines and ODSTs, aiming for the ring beyond. Because Fred insisted that all his men leave before he did, Blue Team kept moving, weaving through the halls and maintenance access ways to find their own lifeboat and make good their escape.

Even though the walls seemed to grow aliens spouting plasma fire, they couldn't stop the Spartans. The very sight of them made the Grunts flee in terror, and the Elites were usually too busy with attempts to slay the Demons and claim glory to corral their minions. It was like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, save the Sangheili were not as immovable as the Spartans were unstoppable.

Fred scooped up a Marine that had stumbled and fallen just before the entrance to the one remaining lifeboat they had managed to find. The warrior promptly dumped the other soldier into one of his buddies' lap, making room for the other three heavily armored super soldiers.

Remembering what happened before, Cortana opened a private channel. "You might want to hang on."

Disregarding her words, Fred waited until the others were onboard before he sealed the door and grabbed one of the support handles. "Punch it," he growled, and received an affirmative from the pilot.

They exploded out of the airlock and into space, skimming almost perilously close to the _Autumn_'s hull in order to avoid being exposed in open space for as long as possible. Something like grief filled the Spartans at the sight of the _Autumn_ accelerating toward the ring; there went their only hope of completing the Alpha Rendezvous and avenging Reach and their brothers and sisters.

After a moment Fred killed his external speakers but left the COM channel open. "What is that thing?"

"Covenant battle networks call it a 'Halo.' It seems to have some kind of religious significance to them; I'm getting a lot of references to a 'Great Journey.' _Those who built this place _knew_ what they wrought - destruction and death, dust and echoes! Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish, as they did before!_" the AI answered before withdrawing.

The Spartans turned that over in their minds. Something about her statement - and that of the personality spike - seemed _off _in more ways than one (how did she know about its builders, its purpose? What _was_ its purpose?), but none of them could figure out an answer, so they let it slide.

"This duty station really sucks," one of the Marines grunted. No one saw any reason to disagree.

* * *

Not too far away, the Spartan known to his own world as the Master Chief was taking a considerably more sedate trip down to the installation's surface via the _Cryptic Whisper_, a Forerunner stealth corvette. He stood on the ship's bridge, wearing Forerunner armor refitted to be an exact copy of a UNSC Marine's, examining the readouts the ship's ancilla put up for him. He could have done it all himself, but he liked to let the ancillae do the number-crunching; they were far faster and more fluid, had a more intuitive grasp of machinery and its capabilities than he did. "How're we doing, Winterspell?"

The ancilla's avatar appeared over the holographic console. She took the form of a vaguely female figure made of snow, surrounded by a swirl of slowly falling snowflakes, and she drifted over to him. "There are more survivors than anticipated," she answered, her voice like a sigh, "Sensors indicate there are six teams of Spartans present."

"Six? Which ones?"

"Red, Blue, Green, Black, Orange, and Silver, Commander." She listed their names. Most of them had already died in his timeline; he was glad to see that at least some of them had made it.

"All right, take us in. Find us a lifeboat where everyone died and drop us off, then start dropping off the others so they can infect the corpses. Once the _Autumn_ lands, we'll start directing all the combat forms there."

"Aye, sir."

He still thought that Forerunner technology was amazing, even after a hundred thousand years; even though they were rocketting toward the ring at a speed that would have had him pressed flat against a wall, the internal dampeners made it so that he couldn't even tell they were moving. "Appraise me if anything unexpected comes up."

"Of course."

"Thanks, Winter." He headed off into the ship.

He wasn't the only one temporarily joining up, but it was still incredibly strange to see his alien crew in human form - especially Ferial, who was, effectively, a dragon. Ambience-of-Night was helping her pull her hair into a ponytail, since Gultanr didn't have anything that resembled hair - and neither did anyone else, for that matter, not like humans did. John was no help in that area, either; he kept his hair regulation-length even when changing styles and fashions decreed otherwise.

[Are we ready?]

'As we'll ever be, Commander.'

'This is exciting! I'm looking forward to meeting your other family, Commander. This version of them, at least.' Venera was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

[Just don't show it around them; they'll be wary of anyone who seems _too friendly_. And since we're going to get "killed" by the Flood.]

'What about Lady Cortana?'

[She'll be fine. Actually, once I tell her you're with me, she'll probably want to know absolutely _everything_.]

'Ah, good, maybe we can trade. I want to hear "little Chief" stories from your youth.'

[Mmm. Don't like that.]

* * *

As before, the lifeboat suffered catastrophic airbrake failure as they entered Halo's atmosphere, and the crash landing itself killed all the occupants save the Spartans and the AI. The humans were knocked unconscious, and Cortana decided against disturbing them unless the Covenant patrols arrived early; such as it was, this was one of the few times the Spartans would get something resembling real rest while on Halo. Instead she dedicated her time to monitoring the Covenant battlenet; despite their superior technology, they were still idiots broadcasting tactical data on unencrypted channels, not knowing that the UNSC was listening in.

After a few minutes, the Spartans began to stir. Cortana turned to them and said, "Blue Team, can you hear me? Can you move? There are Covenant dropships on approach."

That made the four rocket back to full awareness and scramble for their weapons. They gathered their gear and darted across a metal conduit exposed by years of weathering by the waterfall. The conduit formed a handy bridge that let them take cover in the hills beyond the river as the first dropship landed near the crashed lifeboat.

Linda nailed the Sangheili with her sniper rifle right off the bat. The Grunts panicked almost immediately after and started running around screaming and flailing their arms, leaving the Spartans free to pick them off alongside the Jackals. None of them managed to make the warriors' shields so much as flicker before they died, leaving them free to advance.

"I'm reading another lifeboat beacon nearby," Cortana reported, "Head up along these cliffs and left around the bend up ahead."

Fred flashed an acknowledgement at her, and Blue Team moved through the trees, their motion trackers picking up enemy movement in the hills beyond. Two Elites and seven Grunts joined the Spartans' already obscene career body counts before they made the jump to lower ground. They rounded the bend as Cortana said and found a few squads of Marines under attack. The humans had taken shelter in an odd structure; the upper part was shaped like a U and launched balls of a plasma-like substance skyward at regular intervals.

The Spartans set that aside in favor of taking on the waves of Covenant harrying the Marines. With all four of them, it was easy enough, and it didn't take long before they were jogging over to greet the squad leader, one "Sergeant Johnson."

"What's your status, Sergeant?" Fred asked when they stopped in front of the man.

"We're scattered all over this valley," was the reply, "We called for evac, but until you all showed up, I thought we were goners."

"Don't worry, Sergeant," Cortana said over Fred's external speakers, "We'll stay here until evac arrives. Major Silva has dispatched someone to pick you up."

A cry went up from the upper level of the structure; one of the lookouts had spotted an inbound enemy dropship. But even with just one team of Spartans, it was almost child's play to hold the area against the Covenant, Linda up on the structure's one accessible floor and Fred, Kelly, and Sam circling below. They had just finished repelling a fifth assault when a friendly voice broke over the COM.

_"This is Echo Four-Nineteen, anyone reading me? Repeat, any UNSC personnel respond!"_

"Roger, Echo Four-Nineteen, we read you; this is Fireteam Charlie. Is that you, Foehammer?" Cortana seemed to be in a good mood now; she sounded almost perky over the radiowaves.

_"Roger, Fireteam Charlie, good to hear from you."_ The Pelican swooped overhead and circled the structure. The Marines cheered - before being startled to silence by more lifeboats thundering past overhead.

"If those lifeboats make it down, the Covenant are going to be right on top of them. We should go after them, rescue all we can." Over the COM, the AI said, "Forehammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog. Blue Team and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers." Cortana put up a nav point as Rawley swung her bird around to drop the vehicle on a small rise a short distance away.

The Spartans made their way towards it, but there were only three seats for four soldiers. Sam volunteered to go with the Marines to help Major Silva. "Linda can pick off the Covies from a distance, Kelly's fast enough to take them out before they know she's there, and you need Cortana for tracking. I'll go."

So the remaining three set off with Linda in the passenger seat and Kelly manning the turret, and the construct flicked a nav point in the general direction of the tunnel. Cortana stayed quiet this time as Fred sent the Warthog down into the dry lakebed and spun the vehicle around to see the immense tunnel sprawled out before them, curving away into a dimly lit passage.

The Spartans proceeded carefully into the dark; there was no telling what kind of unpleasantness existed in the shadowy confines of the tunnel. The construct knew better, however; the danger was beyond a deactivated energy bridge that the Warthog would have to jump. "What are you waiting for?" she demanded impatiently, "The Covenant is further in; it's too exposed here. We're safe for now."

Fred nodded and gave it a little gas, speeding up through a series of tight turns before coming to the deactivated energy bridge. He checked to make sure the LRV would clear the gap before gunning the engine and making the jump. As the wheels thudded back to earth, Cortana said, "I'm picking up movement nearby."

No lifeboat could punch through that much earth and metal without killing itself and its occupants, so that most likely meant Covenant. As quickly and quietly as he possibly could, Fred guided the Warthog around the corner and down a short ramp to hover at the edge of the tunnel.

Beyond was a massive cavern, dimly lit by a blue glow coming from alien machinery. As their eyes adjusted to the greater darkness, the Spartans noticed what Cortana had already detected. There were Covenant soldiers, mostly Unggoy, patrolling on the near side of a gulf that bisected the floor of the chamber. The Jackals gave themselves away with their bright shields, and the glowing articulation points on the Grunts' and Elites' looked like little lights bobbing in the dark.

Fred glanced at Linda, who was already drawing a bead on the two Elite Minors patrolling to the right of the main path. Four shots later, the bodies hit the ground, the rifle reports echoing through the cavern. The Jackals immediately started looking for the shooter even as the Grunts tried to flee.

Fred gunned the engine and brought them out into the cavern proper, Kelly opening up the LAAG aiming for the Jackals; of the remaining aliens, they were the most dangerous. The sniper, meanwhile, switched to her assault rifle and started picking off the Grunts while they were at range, letting the driver mow them down when they got too close. They had to temporarily abandon the Warthog to flush out the remaining foes, but when they were dead, the Spartans gathered at the edge of the deep canyon that split the cavern floor.

"Cortana?" Fred asked, "Any ideas?"

"It looks like there's a control panel _here_," the AI replied, putting up one nav point, then another, "and a path up to it _here_."

"Thank you." Fred went to check while Linda brought the 'Hog around. As he walked up the ramp, he caught flickers of movement on his motion tracker. He paused, eyes flicking between the tracker on his HUD and the bend in the path. Then he pulled out a plasma grenade, activating it and hurling it around the corner.

There was a furious roar followed by an explosion, and he rounded the corner to find the bloody and headless corpse of an Elite Major on the floor. It seemed that the grenade had adhered to the Sangheili's helmet and destroyed its head and a fair bit of its upper body in spectacularly gory fashion when it went off.

Cortana let out a faintly amused hum, some of her personality spikes hissing out laughter at the alien's misfortune. Ignoring her, Fred continued past the corpse toward the end of the path, where the nav point was suspended over a holopanel, itself projected between two posts of an unknown makeup. The display itself was familiar in some undefinable way, and Fred cocked his head, then touched an aqua circle. After a moment, emitters extended from either side of the gulf, and a bridge made of nothing but light faded into view.

The Spartans looked dubiously at it, then exchanged glances. Fred tested the bridge, which seemed solid enough, before they piled back into the Warthog and gunned it across, all of them white-knuckling it until they were back on solid ground.

All told, the Spartans rescued more than a hundred Marines and naval personnel, as well as another squad of Spartans, and they climbed into Echo Four-Nineteen's Pelican as the sun was "setting" behind another part of the ring. Though the sunset was nowhere near as beautiful as those of actual planets, it was far _stranger_ \- more akin to a solar eclipse than an actual sunset. The Spartans largely ignored the sight, save for the fact that the cover of darkness would make it easier to sneak up on the Covenant.

"I've found Captain Keyes," Cortana said abruptly, "He's being held aboard a Covenant cruiser, the _Truth and Reconciliation_, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the _Autumn_. The Covenant put her down about three hundred kilometers up-spin."

"How soon can we organize a rescue team?"

"We'll have to talk to Major Silva about that. _And hope he's not still holding a grudge._"


	4. Interlude: A Counterfeit Existence

Interlude: A Counterfeit Existence

* * *

The dropship was standing room only, but even so the Marines and ODSTs gave the four Spartans a wide berth. John and his team were the only ones who didn't, who stood next to them as if they were just other soldiers.

It was hard not to stare. In the world he remembered, Riz, Joseph, and Joshua had all been killed, one way or another, and Maria had retired - been critically wounded, he'd heard - and started a family. Yet here they all were, alive and well and on active duty, though to his well-trained eyes, Joshua was injured, something with his left arm. He didn't seem to be in _too_ much pain, but for it to be visible it was probably a cracked bone, nothing major. Still…

To stop himself from murmuring 'oly oly oxen free,' he said, "You should get that looked at when we arrive."

The Spartans heard him over the rest of the chatter in the troop bay. Four gold visors turned to look at him.

"Your arm," he clarified, directing it to Joshua, "You're holding it closer to your side than the other, like it's tender and you're trying to protect it. And whenever we hit turbulence-" He paused as the Pelican did exactly that, then resumed. "-you flinch, like it hurts. If you _are_ injured, you should get it looked at when we arrive. Don't need a minor injury causing a major one."

He saw faint surprise in their body language - that he'd noticed? That he was concerned about them? He didn't know. "Yes, sir," said Joshua.

John barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "It's a _suggestion_, son, not an order. With as long as you've been fighting this damned war, I trust you know your own limits."

Ambience-of-Night held up his medkit in wordless offering.

"Save it until we land, Lieutenant; no room here."

The Lifeworker gave an exaggerated pout but said, "You got it, Sarge."

The Spartans raising their eyebrows was nearly a tangible thing. "What?" John asked.

"He's an officer," said Maria.

_Ah_.

"Sarge's known me since I was a fresh-faced little punk right out of medical school," said Ambience, giving John a playful nudge with his hip, "I had almost no idea what I was doing, so I just followed his lead, and it's worked out pretty well so far."

John snorted. Technically speaking, it wasn't even a lie. Ambience-of-Night had _just_ finished his mutation to first form when the enemy Flood invaded his home planet. The Fleet had been deployed in an attempt to halt the spread of the infection, to no avail, so they had switched to evacuating civilians before razing some areas of high infection and shooting down infected ships. Ambience had been one of the civilians they'd rescued, and then he'd sort of never left.

"That's only because HIGHCOM's never forced you to countermand one of my orders," the infected Spartan said dryly.

"Like I said, it's worked out pretty well so far."

The Pelican landed with a jolt, and 029 was unable to conceal a hiss of pain when his arm was jostled, pressing it close with his uninjured hand.

The Lifeworker reached out a hand, face twisted in sympathetic pain, then dropped it to clutch at his medkit. It was full of Forerunner equipment disguised as UNSC standard issue, which would let him work without having to compensate for inferior technology. "_Please_ let me treat you," he nearly begged, "I don't like seeing people walking around wounded when I can help them."

Despite being over a hundred thousand years old with more combat experience than all the S-IIs combined, Ambience still conveyed perfect innocence, along with earnestness and genuine compassion. After a moment, Joshua relaxed and nodded, and the Forerunner beamed.

"I'll tell whoever's in charge where you've gone," said John.

"Thanks, Sarge!"

When they disembarked, Ambience followed the Spartans, while John, Venera, Kenera, and Ferial reported in to Major Silva. The man was exactly as the Spartan remembered him, albeit far less unpleasant because this time around he didn't know there was a Spartan in front of him.

"From the UNSC _Trafalgar_, huh? How'd you end up on the _Autumn_?" he asked after Wellesley brought up their falsified CSVs.

"Admiral Fitzgerald deployed us to help defend Reach from the ground, sir," John lied through his teeth, "The _Savannah_ reported that the Covenant shot her down, right before we lost contact with _her_ too. And the Pelican we got picked up by - Bravo Twenty-Two - the pilot said Miss Cortana ordered him to just grab everyone he could find, so here we are."

That, too, wasn't _entirely_ a lie.

"Hm. Well, good to have you. Lieutenant McKay will get you situated."

"Yes, sir."

McKay put them next to the Spartans, which was very convenient for their purposes - easier for him to sneak out to see his AI. But it also made it laughably easy to link up with Ambience's perception.

The Lifeworker didn't even blink when Joshua peeled back the undersuit of the MJOLNIR, revealing ghastly pale flesh thick with scars from weapons and surgeries. He'd seen them before on John's body and had long since become desensitized to the evidence of the Spartans' history. He just settled in and started treatment, and not just on Joshua but on the other Spartans as well; when one of them finished, another took their place without a word.

He was still present when the rest of Blue Team arrived, humming softly to himself as he treated Grace for a fractured vertebra. The incoming Spartans automatically saluted when they noticed his lieutenants' bars, but he waved them off. "At ease," he said, "None of you need to salute me - in fact I'd rather you _didn't_, unless we're around someone who'd get onto you for that. I'm Ambrose Night, but you can call me Ambi."

"Understood, sir." Fred pulled his helmet off, and Cortana appeared on the visor, squinting at the Lifeworker.

"Ah, Miss Cortana!" Ambience said cheerfully, "Glad you made it. I'll have to tell Sarge; he made me promise to wake him when you needed him."

_Wake me when you need me._

She drew herself up slightly; she recognized the coded statement. "Did he now."

"Yes, ma'am," he answered, "And if there's one thing I've learned about Sarge, it's that when he makes promises, he keeps them, and expects the same of everyone else."

The Lifeworker turned just slightly to look her in the eye, and understanding dawned. A personality spike bloomed - _"John's here?!"_ \- but she got it under control before it could expose them. "Good. The _Trafalgar_, yes? I need to coordinate with Major Silva and Wellsley on Captain Keyes' rescue mission, but I'll be glad to take his report after."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

"You know me."

Cortana jolted out of her semi-stasis at the sound of his voice, and whipped around to stare at him as he walked up out of the dark.

"When I make a promise…" John knelt next to her holotank and laid a hand over the edge, careful not to block the emitter.

"You keep it," Cortana finished barely above a whisper and reached out to touch him. But her tiny hand just passed right through him, immaterial, and her expression twisted in pain. "Are you really here, John? I dreamed of this for so long…"

"I'm here."

"What happened? You weren't with the other Spartans, and your biological family doesn't exist. _We looked for you for so long-!_"

"It's… a _long_ story. I can give you the Cliff's Notes now and have someone waiting for you in the Control Room with a data drop. But it's...not remotely pleasant."

She knelt on the holotank and tried to touch him again. "Tell me."

"'I cannot tell my story without going a long way back,'" he quoted, and then he did.

The AI listened in silence as he gave her the gist of all that had happened since they _both_ were taken from the _Dawn_ \- the Forerunner-Flood War, and everything that followed. When he was finally done, she said, "Show me."

He turned his hand over and let the Change roll through him, shivering through his flesh like nails on a blackboard. His veins darkened as the Flood super cells flowed, turning deep green, and his fingers grew into razor sharp Flood talons.

Again, Cortana tried to reach out and touch, and again her hand went right through him. She sighed. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"_Don't _be," he replied, "You've got enough on your plate as it is. I'd have someone bring you a complete recompiler as well if I didn't think the UNSC would find it suspicious."

"Me suddenly recovering from rampancy? ONI'd probably pull me apart trying to figure out how it happened."

The infected Spartan growled quietly - and he wasn't the only one.

The others emerged from the dark. Ambience, Venera, Kenera, and Ferial weren't the only ones who'd come with him to Installation Zero-Four, but because of some _bullshit_ elsewhere in the galaxy, they were some of the few who'd been able to stay. The rest were of infecting the corpses of those who'd landed on the ring without surviving the landing in question, adding to the "army" of Pure Forms. It would help them convey the danger of the Flood without infecting living people, which John was extremely reluctant to do; that would bring a whole host of problems.

The _rest_ of the Last Fleet was off dealing with another wave of discord set off by the collapse of the Third Ecumene fifty years prior. The war _that_ set off - the Reaving - had been almost as ugly as the Human-Covenant War, save far more widespread and far less one-sided. It had taken a _tremendous_ amount of effort to stop the fighting from spilling over into human and Covenant space. As it was, both the Lituni - effectively the Khajiit from _Skyrim_ \- and the Adonte - "the Grays", as humanity knew them - had been forced to completely abandon their home star systems, and Maethrillian itself had come under attack.

It was winding down now - most of the aggressors had been killed or otherwise suppressed - but there was still occasional violence that the Fleet dealt with to let their allies focus on recovery. This wave had probably been their last gasp, so John had dispatched all of their ships - except for Winterspell and the _Cryptic Whisper_ \- under Nethalia's command to finish it off for good.

The Spartan introduced the aliens to his AI. "Thank you for taking care of my Spartan," Cortana said with a soft smile, "_I know he takes a lot of looking after._"

"Hey!"

"You can thank us by telling us 'baby Chief' stories for blackmail."

_"Hey!"_

"You knew this was going to happen," said Kenera, not making even a token attempt to rein in her more rambunctious twin.

"Yes, but I had hoped that she would have at least waited until I was out of earshot."

"Why would I do that?"

John sighed so loudly that it made Cortana start laughing. "It's nice to see that you've lightened up a little over the years," said the AI, "You were always so serious."

"The Human-Covenant War is a serious thing," said the Spartan, "But I've also had a hundred thousand years to - _learn how to be human_, I suppose. The Forerunner-Flood War was _horrific_, in a way no amount of documentation could ever hope to convey; I needed some way to cope that wasn't self-destructive. And everything since hasn't been a hundred millennia of constant fighting, or training for fighting. I've found other things to occupy my time - I had to. _All of us_ did. _These two_ have taken to setting off _fireworks_ on my ships-"

"At least it's not napalm!"

"-and _this one_ was trying to breed _dragons_ at one point," John said, gesturing to Ambience while ignoring the twins' protests.

"Did you succeed?"

"Yes!" Ambience beamed at the AI, then saddened. "But we couldn't make them very big before they got too heavy to fly, and they couldn't breathe fire for very long either. I think the longest we clocked was around fifteen seconds?"

"And what about you?" Cortana asked, turning to Ferial.

"I garden."

"And by that she means, 'I keep poisonous and carnivorous plants.' She's very proud of her collection."

"You'll have to let me show you when you finally come aboard."

"I hardly think the UNSC is going to just _let me go_."

"Yeah, well, they can deal. Or we can trade; I _know_ we have things _they_ want, and they have _you_. I'm sure Doctor Halsey and ONI would be quite glad to let you go in exchange for the Librarian's personal ship."


	5. Three: A Toast to the Ruler

Three: A Toast to the Ruler

* * *

_"The enemy has captured Captain Keyes and is holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the _Truth and Reconciliation_, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the _Autumn_."_

Cortana seemed to be in an unusually fine mood that evening, Blue and Red Teams noticed. Even the occasional personality spikes were mild compared to previous (and still admittedly rare) incidents. Indeed, the change seemed to have come from her conversation with Sergeant Smith (if indeed that _was_ his real name; "John Smith" sounded too fake to be real, and yet at the same time, it was so fake that no one would actually use it as a fake name – would they?). The man and his team were joining them on their mission to rescue Keyes and appeared ready and focused in ways that many Marines weren't.

_"The ship is holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."_

One of the other Marines, who apparently did not read mission briefings, asked the construct, "So how are we supposed to get on board if it's in the air? The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings."

Instead of snapping at him like the Spartans half-expected, Cortana let Sergeant Johnson explain. "There's a gravity lift in the ship's belly that ferries troops and supplies between it and the surface. _That's_ how we're getting in."

The construct gave them some absent-minded advice on the placement of the Shade turrets before resuming talking with Winterspell, who was customizing a recompiler and data storage unit for her. The instant John snatched her from the Gravemind's clutches, she could be reformatted and recompiled into a Forerunner ancilla, preventing her from shutting down due to rampancy.

Once Winterspell had gathered enough data, Cortana bent her processing power to hacking the Covenant ship. The aliens' AIs swarmed her immediately, but even rampant, she was more than a match for her. Her more vicious personality spikes took pleasure in dissecting them line by line, leaving her own subroutines in their places. When they came back, they would open right up.

When she refocused her attention on the Spartans, Blue Team was circling around to flank more Shade turrets while John and Red Team moved up the middle. Some of her personality spikes panicked whenever he was out of her sight, but she knew better than to worry.

They were almost directly under the ship now and, after clearing bout a small canyon, advanced into the area where the gravity lift came down. Heavily guarded, of course, and Red Team made for the Shade turrets covering the area while Blue Team covered them, then herded the enemy out into their line of fire.

Of course, that was when the Hunters came down from the ship. Even with plasma turrets firing on them from all sides, their armor absorbed an enormous amount of punishment. Linda finally took one out with her sniper rifle, getting a reflect shot off one of the posts that ringed the lift base. The other began rampaging about almost immediately, running at her while exposing its unarmored back to the Marines. John and his team jumped on the opportunity and fired on it, dropping it hard before it even got close to her. She nodded to them, a gesture they returned.

Cortana called for Foehammer in to drop off additional reinforcements once the area was clear of Covenant, before they all stepped onto the lift and were scooped up by its energy.

It deposited them in a cargo bay with some cargo modules scattered about around a pair of navy blue Wraith tanks. All doors leading into the bay were locked, the lights around their edges glowing red.

"Cortana?" Fred asked.

"Working." (She wasn't.)

"Marines, let's take cover near the tanks," said John, already in motion, "Their armor's tougher than ours."

The others agreed and jogged over to join him, getting lines on all the doors. Just in time, too, because a SpecOps Elite came through one of the smaller doors and roared its fury at the sight of the humans, charging and swinging its plasma sword. Kenera unloaded an overcharged bolt from her plasma pistol into its shields, letting everyone else quickly gun it down.

More Sangheili came and went the way of the first, along with a few handfuls of Jackals and Grunts, before one of the larger side doors slid open to admit a trio of Jackals into the bay. These, too, were gunned down, and the Marines moved down the short passage beyond to the door at the other end, where they held position with Red Team.

Blue Team, meanwhile, worked their way through the maze of halls, circling around to let them through. The recombined forces overwhelmed the Covenant in their way and emerged into a shuttle bay on one side of the ship just as a Spirit dropship swooped out.

Plasma fire seemed to pour from everywhere at once as they dove for cover behind more cargo modules scattered on the deck and pillars supporting the upper levels. Linda sniped a Sangheili preparing to commandeer a Shade on a tall platform bisecting the chamber. Sam and Will engaged the dozen Jackals on their floor, leaving the Covenant on the levels above them to the Marines and the remaining Spartans.

They had cleared the way past the bisecting platform and taken cover behind another Wraith when a second pair of Hunters came through a side door and charged into the fray. Kelly darted forward to serve as bait, luring them into a chase that exposed their unarmored backs to the others.

One fell; the other screamed and charged. Kelly dodged out of the way and brought her shotgun to bear on it, blasting hole after hole in the exposed orange worms of its back until it fell too.

After weaving through more purple corridors, each one pretty much the same as the last, and killing dozens and dozens of Covenant soldiers, the rescuers finally reached the bridge of the cruiser. Most of the Marines were exhausted by then, so Blue Team continued on alone, Red Team staying behind to guard their backs.

The Spartans found their way to one detention center, but it was empty save for a dead Marine. They continued on and eventually found another cellblock, this one occupied. Before they could get a good look, however, plasma fire splashed over the Spartans' shields. They dodged back into cover and returned fire, taking down the SpecOps team guarding the prisoners. Once they confirmed the kills, they unlocked the cells and released those held within.

"While they had us locked up here, I heard our 'hosts' talking about this ring and its capabilities," Keyes told Cortana, collecting a fallen Needler and checking it.

"One moment, sir. Accessing the Covenant battlenet." Even rampant, it took her only a scant second to retrieve the intel she had on file and compare it to the live broadcasts. "As I understand it, they believe Halo is some kind of weapon with vast power."

"The interrogators kept saying that 'whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe,'" Keyes agreed, nodding.

"I see," said Cortana, "I've intercepted a number of transmissions about a Covenant search team looking for a control room; they must be looking for _Halo's_ control room."

"That's definitely not good. If Halo really _is_ a weapon and the Covenant gain control of it, they can and _will_ use it against us." He turned to look at Fred. "I have a new mission for you and Blue Team. We need to beat the Covenant to Halo's control room."

"We should probably finish this one first, sir," the Spartan replied, and the captain nodded in assent.

"We can head back to the shuttle bay and call for evac," said the AI. She was particularly eager to return to the bridge, since that was where her Spartan was waiting. She hoped that Red Team was more than equal to the task of taking care of the SpecOps Sangheili that killed everyone the first time.

They made it back to the bridge just in time to see the third and last Elite lunge at Douglas-042, plasma sword outstretched. But John was having exactly none of that, and his luck hadn't deserted him; he got there first, and _slammed_ a foot against one of the Sangheili's knees with enough force that the bone audibly cracked. He caught the alien when it fell forward into his arms, combat knife already in hand and driving between the Elite's ribs to pierce its heart.

It was dead before it hit the ground.

"Excellent work, Sergeant," said the construct, "Cortana to Echo Four-Nineteen, we have the captain and need extraction on the double." She giggled a little to herself when John made a face at the purple blood now covering most of his front.

_"Negative, Cortana,"_ Foehammer answered, _"I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm havin' a tough time shakin' 'em. You're better off findin' your own ride - sorry."_

The AI acknowledged her and passed the news along to the rest of them; she had no doubt that John and his Infected were listening in on every channel they could find. Once Keyes said he would fly them out, Cortana put up a nav point back to the shuttle bay and settled in to watch.

Now, as then, a Spirit dropship was waiting in the bay, floating serenely in the gravity tethers. It was a bit of a tight fit, but they all made good their escape, heading back to Alpha Base at all speed and proving to the Covenant that they were going to be a major pain in the ass in the process.

Upon arriving, Keyes was swept away by the medics, despite having already been seen to (courtesy of Ambience), and Silva gave the Spartans a grudging "Good work," before heading off after the captain.

* * *

"Cortana."

"_What do you want, organic?_ Ugh, sorry. Yes, Master Chief?"

Fred and the other Spartans paused for only a moment. That was the first time she'd apologized for - anything, really. "Sergeant Smith. You know him?"

"In a manner of speaking. I know _of_ him, at least. Why?"

"Earlier, on the bridge," said Douglas, "I hadn't even noticed the third Elite. But he had, and he was…"

"Too fast, too strong, too skilled?" Cortana finished, "_It is only to be expected from Him._ I'm at least ninety percent certain that Sergeant Smith was part of Project ORION, although a different iteration than Sergeant Johnson, whom you've also met."

"Project ORION," Fred said with a frown, "I've heard that term before."

"It's now colloquially known as the SPARTAN-I Program. Effectively, he and Sergeant Johnson are your older brothers; both of them received enhancements similar to your own, though John seems to have taken better to them. _But that too is expected._"

"'Expected,'" Linda repeated.

"His genetic profile has many of the same markers that Doctor Halsey looked for when screening candidates for the SPARTAN-II Program. If he had been born later, he could have been a II instead of a I."

Several of the S-IIs in question hummed in acknowledgement and interest. "Thank you, Cortana," said Fred.

* * *

"They're suspicious of you. _Asking questions, growing bolder._ You almost exposed yourself."

"A small price to pay to make sure they're safe. What did you tell them?"

"That you're an S-I like Johnson. Similar biochemical augmentations, and if you'd been born later, you would have been a II. It'll give you room to maneuver, but not too much."

"Not the whole truth, but not a complete lie, either. It's a pity we can't stay and let them warm up to us; it might make things easier in the long run, at least with them."

"You're sure I can't convince you to stay?"

"I wish, but not this time. Too much risk. _But_. I _will_ come for you on _High Charity_." The infected Spartan looked her in the eye. "Even if we don't see one another again until then, I promise I'll come for you."

"Don't make a girl a promise…" she sighed, and leaned into his touch.

* * *

The island was all alone in the middle of the sea, no sign of anything special about it. There were Forerunner structures on it, but that was true of everywhere on the ring. Yet it was here, Cortana claimed, that the "Silent Cartographer" was hidden. "The Cartographer is a map room," she explained, "It will show us the location of Halo's control center."

She seemed quiet again, morose. Sergeant Smith and his team had gone with Captain Keyes to investigate something else the Covenant seemed very interested in, judging by the flurry of COM traffic around it.

Despite the island's remote location, the beach was swarming with Covenant. Blue and Black Teams charged over the sand to use boulders as cover while they fired on the Covenant, the Marines following close behind. They only lost two men taking the beach, and after a quick conference, Black Team stayed behind with Linda and the Marines to hold it while Fred, Kelly, and Sam headed out in the Warthog Foehammer dropped off.

The threesome rounded the headland and sped across an open area on the near continuous beach that ringed the whole island. There were some Jackals perched on a collection of rocks immediately around the turn, so Kelly - who was on the turret once more - opened up with the LAAG, picking the trio off before swinging around to help Sam with his targets: a pair of Elites and a cadre of Grunts coming out of a copse of evergreens. There were some sprays of violet and neon blue blood, and the Spartans moved on.

They paused at the top of a small hill. Beyond, there was a large structure jutting outward from the cliff face, Covenant swarming all over it. The Spartans bailed out of the Warthog; although the vehicle was tough, it wasn't invincible, and the Covenant could dish out a lot of punishment.

They took cover in the trees. A group of Jackals noticed the light glinting off parts of their armor, and paid dearly for it. The Sangheili were next, then the Unggoy running in circles after the deaths of their leaders.

Kelly stayed back to guard the Warthog from any more Covenant attacks while Fred and Sam entered the structure, exchanging fire with two Elite Majors within. When they too were dead, the Spartans followed a ramp down into the cliffside, weapons up and fingers on the trigger.

Justified. An Elite and its cadre of Grunts opened fire on them. Both Spartans primed and threw plasma grenades, then retreated to a safe distance. There were satisfying bangs as the explosives detonated, and when they reemerged, it was to find that the grenades had been enough to kill all of the Covenant.

"Don't let them lock the doors!" Cortana cried, and the Spartans darted forward - too late. They were an inch away when the hatch slammed shut. They looked around for any override panels but, failing that, were forced to backtrack to the surface. As they did so, the AI opened a COM channel, "Cortana to Keyes."

_"Go ahead, Cortana. We're still en-route to the objective. Have you found the control center?"_

"Negative, Captain. The Covenant have impeded our progress." Yet she didn't sound frustrated or disappointed, only resigned. "We can't continue to the Cartographer unless we disable its security system."

_"Understood. Use any means necessary to force your way into that facility and find that control center. Failure, people, is not an option. Good luck, Keyes out."_

Cortana closed the COM channel. By that point Fred and Sam had made it to the surface and were fighting off more than a dozen Covenant troops dropped off by a Spirit. With the two of them on one side and Kelly on the LAAG on another, the aliens didn't stand a chance.

Fred gunned the Warthog to continue their loop around the perimeter of the island, moving at less than top speed to watch out for surprise attacks. After rounding a blind corner, they found a narrow cleft leading toward the interior of the island, guarded by more than a few alien soldiers. All of the Spartans worked in concert to bring them down, but in the end in order to continue, they had to abandon the Warthog, moving carefully into the canyon.

Their care was justified again when more Unggoy and their Elite leader popped up from behind some rocks. But they too were gunned down, and the Spartans continued on to the interior of the island.

"Wait," Cortana said when they were about to break cover, "I'm picking up movement in the wash below. Something _big_ \- probably Hunters."

The Spartans huddled to plan. Kelly would be the bait as usual, and if necessary Sam was strong enough to go toe to toe with one of the behemoths for a short while if 087 couldn't grab the attention of both. Fred would support Kelly, gunning for the Hunters' unarmored backs.

Everything went exactly according to plan. Both Hunters lumbered after Kelly, letting the other two gun them down from behind and move on to the Jackals beyond.

It made Cortana suspicious with how well things were going. Almost as if John's unbelievable luck had somehow communicated itself to the others: the Covenant were dispatched, security system disabled with ease, and Blue Team even managed to save some of the Marines when Bravo 022 crashed. They dropped the soldiers off at the beachhead, where they were taken in and treated by their comrades, and returned to the Cartographer, fighting off another pair of Hunters that had been dropped off in their absence.

Then they had descended into the structure once more, moving slowly and sweeping the area thoroughly.

Kelly was the first to move down the hall past the previously-locked door, the other two right behind her. When they emerged into a small antechamber, they didn't even need to think; the Elite's back was turned, and the Grunts were all asleep. They drew their knives and got to work.

Once the aliens were dead, the Spartans convened again, then split up. Sam went through the main hatch out of the room, while Kelly went up a ramp and around the corner, and Fred went through the door under the ramp. Their plans to meet up again soon after were pointless, because they all emerged in the same room.

There were still more sleeping Grunts and patrolling Elites in the chamber, and again they took the opportunity provided - at least until one of the Sangheili noticed them and sounded the alarm, roaring as it charged them. The ensuing firefight ended with minor injuries on their side, and Kelly picked out the needle remnants before sealing up Fred's side and suit. Then they moved on down another ramp.

There were two Jackals on a platform below, unprepared for the arrival of the Spartans; Sam easily swatted them off the ledge and continued on. They fought through the Covenant soldiers in the room beyond, and Fred and Kelly fell back to let Sam take point when yet another pair of Hunters came up from a lower level. He was still carrying a rocket launcher from Bravo Twenty-Two, and it took the behemoths out easy enough.

When they were dead, too, the trio continued on, though Kelly paused briefly to run a hand over the wall where a fuel rod charge had impacted. "Barely even warm," she said, "Not even warped in the slightest."

"If the Warthog had taken that hit, it would be halfway to melted by now," Sam agreed, also taking the chance to touch, "The people who built this place definitely knew what they were doing."

The next room was mysteriously empty, which put the Spartans on edge. They tried several hatches before finding what seemed to be the right one, heading deeper into the ring itself.

Foehammer came over the COM as they went, warning the ground teams that there were enemy dropships headed for the LZ. But the three of them continued on; Linda and Black Team were still there, and they had the utmost confidence in their siblings. The rest of Blue Team fought their way through more Covenant soldiers, including another Elite Major, before finally reaching the Cartographer.

"There," said Cortana, "That holopanel should activate the map."

Fred did as she instructed and activated the display, bringing up a hologram of the installation. From there, the AI dropped a location pin to show the Control Room to the Spartans. "It appears that Halo's control center is in some sort of shrine - or what the Covenant would consider to be one, anyway. Interesting. A shrine is an unlikely place for something so valuable." As the Spartans stepped away, she opened up a COM channel. "Cortana to Keyes."

There was a moment of silence before Foehammer picked up the slack. _"The captain has dropped out of radio contact, Cortana. His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems."_

"Mm. _How convenient._ Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and tell him that Blue Team and I have the location of Halo's control center." The COM link snapped off. "Let's get back to the surface."

The Spartans retraced their steps, killing all the Covenant that had been dropped in behind them. It wasn't as hard as it could have been; of all the aliens, the last were the most challenging: SpecOps Elites with active camouflage. But in the end, they too perished like all the others, letting Blue Team climb back into the Pelican with Linda and Black Team when Foehammer came around.

This was probably going to be their most unusual aerial insertion ever, since the coordinates Cortana gave Rawley were underground.


	6. Four: Realization While On Board

Four: Realization While On Board

* * *

The two teams' drop zone was inside a metal dome somewhere in the ring's interior. There was a wide platform on one wall of the dome, where Foehammer dropped them off, sending Grunts running in terror when the Demons jumped out.

The aliens fled through the hatch in the wall, letting Foehammer get her bird away safely. Less than ten seconds later an Elite came charging out, the Unggoy behind him; seeing the Sangheili unafraid to face the Spartans seemed to have given them some courage.

But having courage did not mean they had skill; they stood with their leader and died with him.

The Spartans engaged the Covenant in the next chamber as well, taking them down before heading through the door on the far side of the chamber. They stepped through - and found themselves on an uncovered bridge spanning the gap between sheer cliffs. What really caught their attention was the pure white snow drifting gently down from grey clouds overhead.

After a moment, Arthur-079 asked, "Cortana? Is the weather supposed to be this way?"

"The weather patterns _seem_ natural," the AI responded, "but given the fact that this ring is entirely artificial, it's possible that the environment systems could be malfunctioning. _Catch the sleepers before they wake! Hurry!_"

The Spartans jolted briefly; she'd been controlling her personality spikes well. It had been a while since they'd heard one, but they moved fast to obey it, taking out the sleeping Grunts on the bridge shortly before a human voice came over the COM.

"_This is Fireteam Zulu requesting assistance from any UNSC forces, does anyone copy? Over."_

A Pelican flew over the bridge, firing on the Covenant and being fired upon in return. Cortana answered them, "Fireteam Zulu, this is Cortana; we read you. Hold position; we're on our way."

"_Roger that,"_ was the reply, _"Make it quick."_ There were cheers in the background as the Marines caught sight of the Spartans making their way across the bridge.

There was another level to the bridge, slung under the primary path; Black Team went down to clear it out and matched pace with Blue Team as they crossed, slaughtering everything in their path. Ducking through the hatch at the far side, the two teams divided to clear the room, then reunited on the far side and rode the life down to the lower level two at a time, careful not to knock each other off.

By the time they were all on the ground, Linda had taken out al the Grunts and Jackals with her sniper rifle, but the Wraith was still making a nuisance of itself, launching plasma bombs at them like it was going out of style. Sam jumped in one of the Shades and started hosing fire downrange, but the distance was too great, the Wraith's armor too tough. But he held the Wraith's attention while the rest of his teammates piled into Zulu's Warthog, whizzing around to slip in behind the Wraith. Kelly opened up with the LAAG, and that combined with two perfectly thrown plasma grenades from Linda were sufficient to destroy the enemy tank.

The two teams regrouped, slowing their pace to let the Marines keep up. In the next valley, they found the rest of Fireteam Zulu - and their crashed Pelican. In addition to the Warthog, they also had a Scorpion tank, which Black Team took over. The tungsten shells more than took care of the Covenant harassing them as they continued on their way through the passes. There had been a tunnel as well, but the Spartans had been concerned that if a shell went off too close it would have been the end of them.

More Covenant engaged them before they'd entered the next valley, but it took only a single round from the Scorpion to take them out. They left the Wraith floating over the frozen lake to the tank as well, the rest of the soldiers aiming for the Ghosts and Banshees first, then the infantry. Elites died under a hail of bullets, Jackals flew when grenades exploded, and Grunts ran circles of terror before getting picked off like all the rest. The Hunters that came up from a tunnel were also no big deal; a single slug from the tank was sufficient to put each one of them down.

"C'mon, people, let's keep moving!" the sergeant yelled to some Marines who were lagging behind, "We're not in the clear yet!"

* * *

John checked his weapon yet again as they entered the containment facility. The Covenant was there, of course; he and his Infected knew that they'd already opened the facility, but despite knowing what was waiting for them further in, the place still gave him the creeps.

It seemed to be having the same effect on the others, too; even Ferial was visibly unsettled, sweeping the area more times than necessary for more threats.

Even though _they_ were the threat.

The Spartan kept the loose combat forms hidden away in "locked" areas of the facility, ready to slip them in behind while hoping - _praying_ \- that they could pull this off. A hundred thousand years of planning and tweaking and training and predicting and it was all finally coming to a head…

* * *

Fred poked his head through the hatch and warily peered around. The Spartans had arrived on yet another bridge, this one ice-covered stone, and there were still more Covenant everywhere. There was a Wraith on the ground below, along with several Ghosts, and two Banshees on the bridge itself. 104 pulled back into the hall without being noticed, and met up with the other Spartans around the bend; a planning session was in order, even though battle plans rarely survived first contact with the enemy. Sam still had a rocket launcher, along with fresh rockets; they could use that on the Wraith. Linda could take out some of the aliens patrolling on the bridge, along with Cal-141, who was almost her equal with a rifle. The rest of Black Team would provide cover fire for Fred and Kelly, who would go for the two Banshees parked on the bridge.

Things went extremely well for them (suspiciously well, in Cortana's opinion): the Wraith didn't notice Sam's rockets until it was too late, and Fred and Kelly took both Banshees while their teammates gunned down everything that tried to stop them. The airborne Spartans cleared the way for the other six as they sprinted across the icy bridge, mindful of slipping. They would be on their own when they went inside, but Fred and Kelly continued clearing the outside while they fought their way to the lift.

By the time the other Spartans emerged, there was nothing left to fight. The Banshees' weapons had cleared out all the Covenant - on the exterior of the pyramid, at least. When they approached the top of the pyramid, a pair of Hunters came charging out of a structure in front of the Control Room's blast doors. The first Hunter was taken down easy enough, but the second was much harder, charging the instant the other went down. Sam arrived _just_ in time to launch a rocket at it and blow it to pieces, preventing it from smashing Fred and Cortana into a bloody smear on the ground.

The Spartans gathered together again outside of the immense doors. All of their motion trackers were picking up enemies just beyond. Cortana reported that there was no way to open the doors only partially, so the Spartans took cover before Fred activated the holopanel, rockets and grenades at the ready. The explosives took out a lot of the Grunts but only a few Elites, forcing them to fight their way through the rest.

Finally there were no more living foes, and the Spartans kept moving through two more blast doors and into the Control Room itself. A platform of steel extended out over a void that plunged deep into the ring, the metal tongue forming a perfect circle around the exact center of the chamber. Both inside the circle and beyond it floated holograms of Halo, the larger spinning beyond the bridge, the smaller complete with models of the gas giant Threshold and its moon Basis.

Black Team kept their weapons leveled at the blast door, which had shut behind them, though the green lights on the doors seemed to indicate that it was still unlocked. Blue Team approached the display in front of the central hologram, examining it carefully, but Cortana felt no such need for caution. She uploaded herself into the control room's systems, appearing as a life-size version of herself between the holopanel and the model of Threshold. Her face conveyed pure delight, and her color cycled through the whole of the color wheel before settling back to her native crimson.

"Are you all right?" Kelly asked her.

"Never been better," she answered with a faintly devilish grin, "You can't imagine the wealth of information - so much so fast! It's _glorious_!" She actually did a little pirouette.

"Okay. So what kind of weapon is it?" Fred asked next.

"What are you talking about?" Cortana demanded, planting her hands on her hips.

"Halo, how do we use it against the Covenant?"

"This ring isn't a scalpel, you barbarian; you can't tune it like that," she snapped, "This is something else, something much more important. The Covenant _are_ right for once; this ring, it's of Forerunner make… give me a moment to access." She touched two fingers to her temple, eyes briefly closing as she pulled up the intel. "Yes, the Forerunners built this Halo, what they called a fortress world, to-." Her face went slack with shock, horror. "_No_. That- that can't be right. Oh, those Covenant _fools!_ They must have known, there must have been signs-!"

"What is it?"

"The Covenant found something here - something _horrible_ \- and now they're afraid."

"'Something buried'?" Sam repeated.

"What does the _Covenant_ have to be afraid of?" Arthur asked, but Cortana had already jumped ahead.

"The captain - we have to stop the captain!" she cried, "The weapons cache he's looking for - it's not - we can't let him get inside! There's no time to explain - get out, find Keyes, stop him. Before it's too late! _Run, organics! All our lives hang in the balance!_"

The Spartans finally caught on to the urgency and fled the Control Room at top speed. The blast doors slid shut behind them, leaving her alone.

Or so they thought.

"You are an excellent actress."

Cortana turned to face the speaker, who dropped his active camouflage as he came around to stand before her. The Forerunner's helm turned transparent, and he bowed at the waist. "Greetings, Lady Cortana," he said, "I am Sharp-Wind-from-the-North, but please call me Sharp. The Commander tasked me with bringing you a data archive on all that's happened, along with a few subroutine grafts from our own ancilla to help you process it all, and - a couple of other things from the rest of us, for your viewing pleasure."

"Thank you, Sharp," she replied, holding out a hand, "I'm ready when you are."

* * *

The swamp was everything they expected it to be: dark, deep, and full of danger, a feeling that started in their guts and uncoiled up their spines to choke their throats. It was also very, very wet, rain pouring down through the ancient canopy to soak everything that wasn't already wet. Blue Team clambered from Echo Four-Nineteen's Pelican and dropped into the mud below.

All four of the Spartans moved carefully into the foliage as Foehammer said, _"The captain's last transmission came from this area. When you find him, radio in, and I'll come pick you up."_

Fred flashed an acknowledgement, then led his team deeper into the swamp, acclimating themselves to the sights and sounds so they would know what belonged and what didn't. As a result, it was easy to find Keyes' Pelican; it hadn't gone very far before crashing into an embankment. Those who'd died in the crash were all naval personnel; it must have been taking off when it went down. They paused to listen to the distress call someone had programmed in - and hesitated when the words _"isn't Covenant"_ came through the static.

Could this be what Cortana meant by "something horrible"?

Fred thought on it as they moved deeper into the swamp, gunning down a few Jackals and some Grunts running around in paroxysms of fear. The Jackals had attacked them instantly, as had all but one of the Grunts. When all the others were dead, Kelly led the way over to the one terrified Unggoy that appeared not to have noticed them, curled tightly into a ball and shaking.

"Hey." She nudged it with her assault rifle.

It jumped to its feet, holding its plasma pistol in quivering hands, then cowered again when it recognized the Demons.

"What happened here?" Kelly demanded, her tone leaving no room for argument, "Where are your leaders?"

"S-something from below!" it squeaked, shaking, "All Sangheili taken! Killed by not-humans and not-Sangheili!"

"What do you mean, 'not-humans'?" Sam asked. They could almost hear his brow furrowing.

"Human-shaped," it chirped fearfully, "but not human, not anymore! All real humans fled!"

"Where?"

It pointed before curling back into a ball. Fred gave it a look before figuring it was too terrified to be a threat and gesturing for them to continue on in the direction it indicated.

It wasn't long before they reached another wreck. This one was a Spirit dropship, bows down in the swamp muck, cargo modules spilling from its hatches like blood from a wound. There were lights illuminating the area as well; an investigation into the crash had been underway, but the investigators themselves were gone.

That put the Spartans on edge. The Covenant didn't just _leave things behind _\- not unless something like the Spartans forced them.

The Jackals that startled them around the next bend were killed with a little more force than necessary as a result.

They were crossing a fallen log being used as a bridge when they saw _something_ run past the empty Shade turret at the top of the opposite slope. It moved like an Elite, but it was there and gone too fast for them to be sure.

The Spartans paused, then continued even more warily than before, climbing the steep slope opposite and topping the rise just in time to catch the tail end of a fight. Grunts and Jackals came tearing out of a large A-shaped structure rising out of the foliage, bullets flying after the aliens and a grenade sending a Shade flying. Kelly was the first to dart down, but the Covenant engaged her the moment they spotted her, despite their fear.

The delay didn't last long, but it was long enough that whatever had been in the structure was no longer there. They swept the room regardless, taking note of the casings near the entrance, before a noise - a cross between a ding and a beep - caught their attention. A lift ascended from a lower level and came to a stop, seemingly summoned by unseen proximity sensors.

It seemed safe enough, so they stepped onboard. Linda tapped a holopanel off to one side and sent them sinking down into the underground complex.

The lower level held a series of overlapping red blobs on their motion trackers, but no one came to greet them when the lift settled. The Covenant standing guard had gotten used to their buddies coming and going, and for that they paid the price. Two grenades and a half a clip of bullets were enough to put them down, along with their fellows in the next room. The rest of that room was empty, though the corpses of two Marines confirmed that Keyes had been through. The bodies weren't anyone the recognized, so they kept moving.

There were three Jackals in the next room, clustered around a hatch. A single grenade was sufficient to put them down, letting the warriors enter the room freely. It was some kind of research facility; there was a glass-walled containment area in the center of the room, displays and readouts on all sides, but whatever it had once held was gone.

The Spartans exchanged looks, recognizing the same wariness in the others that they felt themselves. There was no need for words.

In the next room, two Shades, unmanned, stood on either side of the channel that ran through the middle of the room, cargo modules scattered about, with some Needlers and ammo down in the dip. They each took one as an additional weapon, albeit with only one extra clip; no telling if it would or wouldn't come in handy. Then they kept moving.

There was a live Marine in the room beyond - but he started shooting at them the instant they appeared. "Stay back!" he cried, "You're not turning me into one of those things!"

Kelly snatched the pistol out of the man's hands before he could squeeze off more than a few shots. "Where's your unit, soldier? Where's Captain Keyes?"

"Find your own hiding spot!" he shouted at her, "Those monsters are everywhere!"

_Isn't Covenant_

The Spartans looked at each other again. Then Kelly handed the pistol back to the Marine, but he didn't start firing on them again, just curled up into a ball, whimpering.

They had no choice but to leave him behind, and moved on up a makeshift bridge to the second level, circling around to an open door.

John listened through the Pure form's ears as the Spartans continued on, then directed it to mutate into a full-blown combat form but to stay silent as it followed the other warriors.

Blue Team crossed an energy bridge and entered the primary storage facility through a hatch broken from the inside. That set the Spartans even more on edge; not even they could achieve the amount of force needed to break the doors - not without breaking a bone or several.

There was a large metal wall immediately beyond the door, and two ramps leading down to another hatch beyond that. They caught a blurry glimpse of the facility beyond through a set of unbreakable panes of glass. There was no movement inside - empty - but they headed down anyway; maybe there was a clue to where Keyes had gone - or been taken.

They knew for sure that something was terribly, terribly wrong when the hatch slid open at their approach and dumped a dead Marine into Fred's arms. The Spartan jerked his head, and the other three swept the area again while he pulled the corpse into the chamber.

All of them felt that they were being watched, but there was no one and nothing to do the watching.

There was a crunch of metal underfoot. They looked down - and found that there were thousands of casings nearly carpeting the floor. What could possibly require so much ammo to kill - or could spook Marines and ODSTs so badly that they'd fire that many bullets anyway?

A lone Marine helmet sat amongst the empties. The others covered Kelly while she grabbed it and removed its camera's memory chip. She slotted it into one of the ports in her own helmet and queued up the playback so all of them could see.

The video quality left a lot to be desired even without the night vision filter, but the video itself began normally enough, starting with the doomed dropship's touchdown in the swamp. Kelly skipped ahead, giving them glimpses of the trek to and through the facility, but things took a turn for the ominous when the group found a Sangheili killed by what seemed to be friendly fire. But the Marines continued on into the facility that the Spartans themselves were in, joined by Captain Keyes and Sergeant Smith and his squad.

But Green Team was visibly unsettled; whenever they were idle for even a minute, they put their backs up against each other or a wall and kept sweeping the rooms.

Something slammed on the recording, making the Marines jump. One of the side hatches was breaking under the force of _something_ inside-

Another slam and the hatch burst open, releasing two dozen roughly-spherical _somethings_ into the facility. Before their eyes, some of them smashed themselves together to form a vaguely insect-like shape, a cylindrical body with two multi-toed feet and two arms tipped with long, sharp pincers. A designator flashed over it - "Flood Pure Form - Stalker Type" - right before it lunged forward and ran Sergeant Smith's twins through with its pincers.

The two women screamed and went down, clutching at the pincers where they broke off in their guts. Their sergeant unloaded his shotgun into the Stalker form, taking it down, but it was too late for them. They writhed in pain - and became _something else_.

_Human-shaped but not human, not anymore_

Horrible howls left their throats as they climbed back to their feet and leaped for their squadmates. One of the spheres - "Flood Pure Form - Infection Pod" - threw itself at the Marine whose footage they were watching, and the camera went dark.

Kelly slowly removed the memory chip from her helmet and wordlessly joined the rest of Blue Team in backing up toward the hatch, their weapons pointed toward the other still-closed hatches set into the walls of the facility.

But the hatch behind them didn't hiss open when they got close. Linda hit it first and glanced down to the indicator lights - red. Locked. No other exits. The Spartans moved to get away from the doors, to put their backs up against something solid, their heart rates starting to climb-

_Bang_.

A hatch out of their line of sight was starting to break open, letting loose the "Infection Pods" that had taken Keyes and his team-

Green Team. Maria, Riz, Joseph, and Joshua had been with Keyes and were no longer here; there was a non-zero chance that they had been taken as well.

The Spartans had never lost siblings before, and more than a little of their fear turned to rage. They leveled their weapons as the out-of-sight door burst open, spilling Infection Pods into the room, and when they dribbled over one of the room's decorative partitions, the Spartans opened fire. Popping one of them set off chain reactions in the others close by, but there were still more of them getting closer.

Some of them merged like before, and Kelly started firing on the thing before it was even fully formed, before another identifier popped up - "Flood Pure Form - Tank Type". It lumbered towards them, seemingly heedless of the chunks Kelly was blasting out of it, and swung one of its huge club-like arms at them once, twice, three times before finally succumbing - until more Infection Pods merged with the remains. It got back up and came at them again.

Blue Team narrowly dodged its attacks, and resorted to stamping on the Infection Pods scurrying around their feet while they fired on the Tank Form. Though they had some uncomfortably close calls, they successfully killed everything in the room, Infection Pods smears on the deck and the Tank Form slumped over. More storage rooms had broken open during the fight, adding to the chaos, but even with the reinforcements the Flood hadn't been enough to take down the Spartans.

And then the hatch that blocked their exit exploded inward, some Infection Pods tumbling in with the shrapnel. Behind them was a Stalker Form and what looked to have once been Elites; another identifier popped up, marking these as "Flood Infected Form - Combat Type, Sangheili Variant". All of them leaped into the room, and the Stalker Form _lunged_ for Kelly. She threw herself backwards, scrambling back over the deck to avoid it, before kicking out hard enough that she _launched_ the thing into a wall with a wet crunch.

While that was happening, the other Spartans fought down the combat forms and the Infection Pods with them. Sam was forced to physically fight one of them, too, when it leaped at him and knocked his assault rifle from his hands; actually tearing it apart was beyond disgusting, but none of the other Spartans could get the right angle to shoot it without shooting him as well.

But the door was open, and they took the opportunity it provided, making good their escape. They charged through the hatch and up the ramps, mowing down everything in their way.

The Covenant was fighting the Flood as well, some Jackals and Grunts against their infected leaders, and the Spartans left them to it, taking advantage of the chaos to slip past unnoticed. They passed through several side chambers, still looking for signs that Keyes had come through or better yet escaped, but they weren't holding their breath.

One of the side rooms had a lift at the heart. The Flood in the room were quickly eliminated, though the Spartans were horrified to discover their first actual "Flood Infected Form - Combat Type, Human Variant". A small mercy; it was no one they recognized, but it was still someone lost to the parasite.

(Corporal Grant had died crash-landing on the ring, but they didn't know that.)

Fred tapped at the holopanel to bring the lift platform down, relaxing a little at the promise of escape -

An explosion from above put a swift end to that. The Spartans scrambled back as the remnants of the platform crashed down past them into the abyss below. That forced them to go back they way they'd come to find another way out. It seemed that they weren't the only ones who'd gotten away; they found the corpses of two Marines on one side of the path. One of them was the third woman from Smith's team, "Feriha"-something, but both sets of dog tags had been collected; that _had _to mean there were other survivors.

(Right?)

Yet as they moved off, there was a skittering noise behind them, and they whirled around in time to see some Infection Pods plop to the ground and scurry for the bodies. The Spartans opened fire, but one of the pods threw itself onto Feriha's body, tentacles burrowing under her skin. The infection took hold in seconds, and the combat form stumbled to its feet, then growled and lunged for them, swinging a tentacled arm.

The Spartans gunned it down and briefly wondered about Lieutenant Night - _Ambi_, he'd said to call him Ambi. And Sergeant Smith, whom Cortana was so fond of. Neither of them had yet been seen among the dead, but their chances were grim.

They kept moving through some kind of generator room and what seemed like countless other rooms, lifts taking them deeper into the facility, before they _finally_ found a lift that carried them up and out to a landing on the surface. There were some Marines - ordinary, _human_ Marines - milling around like sheep without a shepherd.

Foehammer came over the COM and said something about losing their signals and a structure nearby where she could pick them up, and the humans were moving out before they'd even really processed her words.

The Flood swarmed them as they left the structure, yet they almost seemed to keep their distance, as if _herding_ them through the swamp. And Fred knew that the only real reason to herd an enemy anywhere was to drive them into an ambush. He took point with Kelly and Sam while Linda served as the rearguard, and they protected the Marines all the way to the structure.

Then strange floating machines appeared through the fog, zapping at the Flood with bright lasers. And they were _only_ targeting the Flood, which was rapidly falling back into the swamp.

_Too_ rapidly.

But there was no time to dwell on it. A few moments later, Blue Team was suddenly enveloped in rings of golden light. There was a moment of disorientation as they appeared on one of the structures' pylons, and another floating machine zipped over to them, smaller and rounder than the others. "Greetings!" it - he? - chirped, "I am the Monitor of Installation Zero-Four. I am 343 Guilty Spark."

The Spartans reluctantly lowered their weapons and glanced at each other.

"Someone has released the Flood," the Monitor continued, "My function is to prevent it from leaving this installation, but I require your assistance. Come, this way."

The golden rings surrounded them again, and they were gone.


	7. Five: Purification Via Ruination

Five: Purification Via Ruination

* * *

The Spartans reappeared inside a large, dark room. For a moment it was all they could do to keep their feet; the disorientation from being teleported such a long way with no warning was nausea-inducing. There were no Flood in the immediate vicinity, which was a plus, but that didn't change the fact that they didn't know where they were. The Monitor thing - 343 Guilty Spark - had come with them, though, and was floating overhead, his "eye" glowing a benign blue that Fred sword he'd seen somewhere before - a dream? One involving Cortana?

He shoved it aside, along with the urge to plug a few rounds into the Monitor's casing; if the - AI? - was made from the same material as the ring itself, it would just be a waste of bullets.

Fred moved to check on the other Spartans even as his motion tracker pinged for attention. There were Flood combat forms ghosting about at the very edge of its range, still out of sight but close enough to be dangerous.

When everyone was steady on their feet, Fred asked the Monitor, "Where are we?"

"Installation Zero-Four. They built it to study and contain the Flood. I am grateful some of their charges survived to reproduce."

The Spartans exchanged glances. Their charges? _Whose_ charges? And survived _what_?

The AI continued, "But of course, studies of this facility and the biology of the Reclaimers must wait until after the Flood is dealt with. Time is short, and we must collect the Index before the Flood leaves the ring."

That lit a fire under them. When the blue light zipped away, the Spartans followed, gunning for the Flood emerging from the shadows of the darkened hall. Fred hurled a grenade into a knot of infected Elites, sending bodies and body parts flying, and several Stalker Forms whirled on them. Most of them charged, but one did not, instead leaping up onto a large decorative barrier and transforming.

This one was identified as "Flood Pure Form - Ranged Type", which made all the Spartans dive for cover as it started firing projectiles at them, crystalline quills like the Needlers. Linda carefully peered out, aimed, and fired, finally taking it out with a full clip on her sniper rifle. It _must_ have been tough; normally it didn't take her so many shots. But since the rifle didn't seem to work on the actual combat forms - bullet velocity was too high - she could afford to spend a few extra rounds on one target.

Blue Team followed the Monitor into a large cylindrical room, lit by a soft, seemingly sourceless golden glow. The room plunged down below them as well into a bottomless pit, and over that pit, something vaguely cylindrical was locked in a stasis field. "The energy field contains the Index," Guilty Spark explained as he zipped ahead of them, "We must proceed through the Library to reach it. Please, follow me."

Fred was going to ask what the Index was and why it was so important when more combat forms and what looked like a fleshy ball with legs lurched out of an alcove and headed in their direction.

"Flood infected Form - Carrier Type".

A shotgun blast from Kelly explained the name; the ball exploded with the force of a small grenade and spewed Infection Pods everywhere, so they gunned those down too.

And on and on and _on_ it went. It seemed like the Library would never end; even though they knew the Halo occupied a discrete amount of space, it seemed like the Library itself was infinite - and infinitely the same. Though beautiful, there was only so much variation to the clean lines of the structure and the stained-glass quality of its holographic displays.

But at last they reached the pinnacle and descended on the grand lift to where the Index waited. Yet the instant they held it, Spark snatched it from their hands, then teleported them to the Control Room.

There was no sign of Cortana.

"Is something the matter?" the Monitor asked them.

"No, nothing."

"Excellent! Shall we?" The Spartans walked slowly, warily behind the Forerunner AI as he zipped forward to the console. "Unfortunately, my usefulness in this particular endeavor has come to an end. Protocol does not allow units with my classification to perform a task as _important_ as the reunification of the _Index_ with the _Core_." The Monitor swiveled to face them as they approached. "That final step is reserved for _you_, Reclaimers."

He offered the Index, and Fred took it. It fit perfectly into a slot on the display, which shivered as if overloading, machinery groaning. Then it all went still.

"Hm," said the Monitor, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"_Oh really?_"

Cortana's brilliant form appeared again, now of a height with the Spartans. She seemed more crimson than ever, if that was possible, and her hands were planted on her hips, her stance radiating fury. The data running over her form was so fast it was a blur even to their eyes. She swiped with her hand, and the Monitor fell to the deck with a clang, momentarily offline.

"Cortana-" Sam stepped forward to try and placate her, but she cut him off.

"I've been cooped up in here for _twelve hours_ watching you toady about helping _that thing_ get set to _slit our throats_!" she snarled, "Do you have _any_ idea what that thing almost made you do?!"

"Yes," Fred answered firmly, "We're activating Halo's defenses to destroy the Flood. That's why we brought the Index to the Control Center."

"You mean this?" The artifact in question appeared in her hand.

Spark hummed back online, then gasped. "A construct? In the Core? That is absolutely unacceptable!"

"_Sod off, jackass!_"

"What impertinence! I shall purge you at once!" he cried, indignant.

"You sure that's a good idea?" The Index dissolved and was absorbed into her form, its data added to her memory.

"How _dare_ you!" the Monitor protested, zipping closer, "I'll-!"

"You'll _what_ exactly? _I_ have the Index; all _you_ can do is float and sputter!"

"Enough." All four of the Spartans got between the arguing AIs, knowing that with a rampant one in the mix things could go south _very_ fast. "The Flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defenses, we can wipe them out."

"You have no idea what this place _really_ does, do you? Why the Forerunners built it?" She leaned forward, lip curled into a snarl. "I told you before, this isn't a _scalpel_. Halo doesn't kill the Flood; it kills their _food_. Humans, Covenant, _whatever_. We're _all_ equally edible. _A thousand other plans were tried and failed, but the Flood was never a simple infection to be cured and cauterized._ The only way to stop it is to _starve_ it to death, and that's what the Halo Array was designed to do: wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. If you don't believe _me_, then ask _him_." She jabbed an accusing finger at the Monitor.

Reeling with shock, all of the Spartans whirled on Spark. Kelly was the first to speak. "Is it true?" She demanded, voice low.

Spark's casing dipped slightly. "Of course. The installation has a maximum effective radius of twenty-five thousand light years, but once the others follow suit, the galaxy will be quite devoid of life - or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the Flood." He made a gesture that seemed to be him cocking his head in confusion. "But you already knew this. I mean, how couldn't you?"

Cortana returned to Fred's armor almost as abruptly as she'd departed. "Left out that little detail, did he," she hissed over TEAMCOM.

"We followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter," Spark said, starting to get defensive, "You were with me every step of the way.'

"I'm picking up movement-" Cortana began.

"Why would you hesitate to do what you have already done?"

"-we need to go _right now_!"

"Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I activate the rings?" A flock of Sentinels formed up behind the Monitor. "Having had considerable time to ponder the query, my answer has not changed. The ring must be activated."

"_Remove us from this place, organics!"_

"If you are unwilling to help, I will simply find another. Still, I must have the Index. Give your construct to me, or I _will_ be forced to take her from you."

"That's _not_ going to happen," Fred growled, leveling his weapon at the nearest Sentinel. The other Spartans did the same.

"So be it," said the Monitor, sounding almost sad. Then, to the Sentinels, "Save his head. Dispose of the rest."

The glass panels around the Core provided excellent cover from the Sentinels' beam weapons. For all the UNSC's advances, the beams could still cook them inside their armor; a fate none of them were eager to meet. The Spartans gunned down the floating death rays as fast as possible, rationalizing the use of all the ammo: it would do them no good to save it if they were dead.

When the last of the machines crashed to the floor, they ran for the blast door. "What's the plan?" Fred asked.

"The only way to ensure the Monitor can't find another way to fire the ring is to destroy it," the AI answered, "but according to my analysis, the best course of action is somewhat - _risky_."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"We may need another Spartan Team to help us out in the later stages. We'll also need Captain Keyes' or his neural interface, but I'll get to that later. For now, you need to know that an explosion of sufficient size will cut through a number of primary systems and destabilize the ring. The explosion has to be done on a large scale, however - and a starship's fusion reactors going critical should do the job. I'll search what's left of the Covenant battle net for the _Autumn_'s crash site; there was a transmission some time ago saying it had been secured, but that was before the Flood."

"Are the fusion reactors still intact?" Sam asked as they waited for the Sentinels and the Covenant to finish battling it out in the hall beyond.

"Trust me, you'd know if they weren't."

The AI's presence dimmed. Fred ignored it, focusing on gunning down the unfortunates left behind. They rounded the corner and advanced on the final blast door, slowing their pace as they got closer; their motion trackers picked up enemies just beyond.

When the door opened, it revealed that there _were_ guards, but every last one of them had their backs turned. Night had fallen out beyond them, but it was still snowing, muffling sounds from any other foes. The Spartans took these ones out without a sound and climbed up into the structure in front of the door to see what they could see.

Cortana spoke again. "I haven't located the crash site yet, but we need to buy some time. The machines in these canyons are Zero-Four's primary firing mechanisms: three phase-pulse generators that amplify its signal and allow it to fire deep into space. If we damage or destroy them, the Monitor will have to repair them before they can be used. I'm marking the location of the nearest generator; we need to move in and neutralize it."

An arrow and a distance marker appeared on their HUDs. Kelly leaned a little way out to peer up at a ledge jutting out from the cliff wall high above. When she zoomed in, she could _just_ make out a door set into the rock.

She nodded, and the Spartans proceeded down the pyramid, taking out all of the sleeping Grunts in their path before the Elite commanders noticed they were dead. Then Kelly baited the enemy soldiers out, letting Linda and Sam take them out from behind. The sniper stayed at the top to clear the lower levels for her brothers and sister as they descended the ramps, and she rejoined them on the lowest level after a sniping spree.

There were only two Banshees sitting unmanned on the snow, so unless a miracle occurred, only two Spartans would be able to go up to the generator, leaving the other two sitting ducks for any enemy drop offs. They put their heads together to decide who would go up and who would stay down. Fred would go; that was a given because Cortana _would_ be needed, and she couldn't be passed around like a blunt. He told Linda and Sam to stay behind; Sam because his strength made him good for close range fighting, making him Linda's spotter while she took out other, more distant foes, and Linda because her specialty was distance, while inside the facility was likely to be tight quarters.

Sam spotted a rocket launcher on the far end of the pyramid's lowest level and slipped over to claim it before heading out over the snow and into the dark. Two rockets later, and the Wraith patrolling nearby exploded and belched smoke. The detonation in question distracted the other aliens, letting the remaining Spartans get the jump on them and gun them down score they could muster a coherent response.

Fred and Kelly took the Banshees up to the platform and swept it twice before coming in for a landing; it probably saved their lives. An Elite and its cadre of Grunts charged from the hatch just as they started to descend, and Fred veered out of the way while Kelly bombarded them with charges from her fuel rod guns. The Grunts died in the opening salvo, but the Elite dodged around for a short while - before dodging right off the edge.

Cortana snickered softly in Fred's ear.

There were no other foes between them and the generator. Suspicious, but they decided not to question it - for now. "Okay, we're here," said Fred, "Now what?"

"We need to interrupt the pulse generator's energy stream," was the reply, "I've adjusted your shields to deliver an EMP of sufficient magnitude. Oh, and you'll need to walk into the beam to trigger it."

"Roge- wait, what?"

"You'll need to walk into the beam to trigger it," she dutifully repeated, "The EMP blast should neutralize the generator - though I highly advise Kelly go guard the door. Don't need any uninvited visitors interrupting us."

As the Spartan in question went to do exactly that, Fred demanded, "_Should?_ Whose side are you on?"

"_Yours, organic. Have you forgotten? Your death is ours."_ The personality spike sounded almost sullen.

He eyed the machine, its glow so bright that his visor automatically polarized to the darkest setting. Finally, he stepped into the bright white beam - and almost toppled out again when the floor shook under him. The Spartan hurried to disengage when he heard the rattle of Kelly's assault rifle and knowing she was under attack.

The Monitor had sent a handful of Sentinels to try and stop them; Fred took out one that had been "sneaking up" on his sister while she gunned down the rest. Fred briefly worded that their Banshees had been destroyed to trap them there, but there was no need; they were right where the Spartans had left them, and hadn't been damaged at all. They took off and aimed for the firefight below.

A handful of fuel rod rounds took care of their enemies, letting them land on the bridge and rejoin their siblings. "Okay, let's move out," Cortana said over TEAMCOM, "As we get closer, I'll mark the location of the next generator."

Inside the rock wall, heading back out the way they had initially come in, the Covenant and the Flood were really getting into it.

'This is gonna be a long night.'

* * *

'_Strike the bell, second mate, and let us go below!'_

'_Look away to windward, you can see it's going to blow!'_

'_Looking at the glass, you can see that it has fell.'_

'_We wish that you would hurry up and strike, strike the bell!'_

[What is it with you all and sea shanties? I swear, just because we're 'The Flood' doesn't mean we have to stick with the 'water-slash-ocean' theme.]

'They're catchy, Commander.'

[The _Black Plague_ was catchy, but that doesn't change the fact that the Golden Age of Piracy was eight hundred years ago.]

'The blink of an eye for us.'

[Even so. There are catchy modern songs, too.]

One of the twins started blasting "The Song That Never Ends," which earned a sharp [_No._], followed by laughter from the others.

[I know I walked right into that one, but if I never heard that song again, I will be absolutely overjoyed.] The Spartan kicked away a Sangheili making a break for the bridge and cut off another's head before infecting what was left. He sent the combat form tearing back down the hall, swinging its tentacle arm wildly.

The Covenant's prohibition against AI was coming back to bite them. While he understood the ban, no AI, no matter how rudimentary, was safe from the logic plague, and they'd also shot themselves in the foot because they had no heavyweight smart AIs to try to override the Hive's control. As a result, the _Truth and Reconciliation_ was almost completely locked down and would remain so until Cortana and Blue Team came for Keyes.

The man in question was locked in the brig with Green Team and some of the soldiers he'd taken with him to the storage facility. Many had "escaped" (been released to make it easier to keep control of the ones they held), and some had been "infected" (combat forms had dragged Ambi out of the brig screaming after he'd treated everyone's injuries to ensure they weren't contaminated with spores). Green Team was in a cell separate from everyone else, their armor locked down. Winter spell was having fun circumventing their attempts to override the lockup; John could hear her tinkling giggles in the back of his mind.

[Nothing _too_ tough, now,] he reminded her, [Cortana needs to be able to get through it as she is now.]

'Understood.'

* * *

By that point, Blue Team had made their way to the second canyon and hovered just inside the door leading out, waiting for Cortana to give them the all clear. She had picked up enemy movement outside the hatch, so they had decided to wait a short while to see if said enemies moved off. It was working pretty well so far; they could hear faint sounds of furious fighting involving the Covenant, but it was starting to die off.

When there was only scattered firing, they went through the hatch and found themselves back on the double bridges from earlier. The Covenant held their bridge, while the Flood held the far one. Most of them were dead already, so the Spartans picked off the stragglers as they advanced.

Some of the combat forms from the far bridge leaped to the near one, including at least one carrying a rocket launcher. Blue Team scrambled for cover and fired frantically at those ones, taking them down before any others.

[Yeah, I know that feel.]

They collected the rockets and kept moving, clearing out the Flood waiting for them inside - and the two Sangheili engaging the Flood on the far side of the room. Then they crossed over to the next room and started working their way back out even as Cortana said, "I'm going to contact Alpha Base, tell them what's going on and see if we can't get another team of Spartans to meet us where Captain Keyes is."

"Affirmative," Fred replied as they emerged onto the other bridge, "Do you have his location?"

"I _think_ he's back on board the _Truth and Reconciliation_, but I'm getting a _lot_ of interference on the CNI transponder."

"Why would the Flood take him back there?" Sam asked, gunning for the Banshees strafing the bridge, same as the Flood further down.

"If I had to guess - _they seek escape from this ring. Flight, freedom - they seek to consume all things in the galaxy, as they nearly did before, and they need him to help them fly."_

That made the Spartans freeze. "We can't let that happen." Linda's tone brooked no disagreement - not that there would have been any.

"_Break the ring and its orbit will falter, fall into Threshold."_

"Where the high heat and gravity will destroy it and the Flood," Kelly finished, "Let's do it."

"We'll need to destroy the other pulse generators first," said Cortana.

They redoubled their efforts against the Flood, making their way down to the ground and aiming for the next nav point the AI put up. A Wraith, a pair of Shades, and a small army of Grunts and Jackals stood in their way, but not for long.

They moved through the tunnel from before - the shorter one that had blocked the advance of the tank - and took out the Jackals standing guard. Beyond it they found and overturned Warthog, still functional, and while Cortana walked Fred through a few minor repairs, Kelly made the trek back to claim one of the Ghosts they had left behind earlier. The now mounted Spartans mowed down the Covenant in their way, sending those they missed with the vehicles flying off the cliff edge and plunging down to the frozen riverbed below.

There were two more Banshees on the ground nearby, off to one side of the canyon. Blue Team circled the area, taking out every foe they came across - including a pair of Hunters and a Wraith - before taking the fighters up. This time it was Linda who went with Fred; there were bound to be enemies at the summit, and her almost uncanny accuracy would make clearing them out a walk in the park.

They bombed the Field Marshal and his soldiers, all the Sangheili up top; they had been spared from the Flood by virtue of elevation. The Spartans swept the area once more, then landed on the platform and went inside, where the generator waited. Linda stayed by the door, switching her sniper rifle for her shotgun, while Fred went further in, stepping into the beam once more.

The explosion made him reel in the beam, but he pulled himself free of it and ran to assist Linda against the Flood that burst into the room. Their shotguns tore huge holes in the enemy ranks, and they raced back to the platform. Their Banshees were untouched again, letting them swoop down on the Flood harrying the others. The aerial and ground vehicles ducked into the slowly sloping tunnel and hovered just inside the entrance, watching as the Flood overtook a band of Covenant around a Shade turret.

Cortana piped up. "I've located the _Pillar of Autumn_. She put down twelve hundred kilometers up-spin, and yes, energy readings show that her reactors are still powered up. However, the systems on the _Autumn_ have failsafes that even I can't override without authorization from the captain. Let's take care of the final pulse generator. And I've received a response from Alpha Base; Black Team will meet us at the _Truth and Reconciliation_. There's no telling what we'll find there."

All four of the Spartans flashed an acknowledgement - and then remembered Green Team. They gunned the Flood down with probably excessive ferocity, stealing the heavy weapons the creatures had acquired, and continued on, coming to a stop outside the blast door. Sam jumped out to open it while the Banshees circled as best they could in the confined space.

Something exploded on the other side, making them all jump. The door panels ground to a halt in their tracks even as they strained to open the rest of the way. Nothing wider than a Warthog could get through, which meant leaving the Banshees behind. Rather than force them all to cram onto one already over-encumbered vehicle - Warthogs were barely rated to carry _two_ Spartans in full armor, much less _four_ \- Kelly hopped down to let Linda take over on the turret while Fred climbed into the passenger seat. With three half-ton Spartans, the Warthog could only go so fast; she was more than able to keep up.

They made it through the cavern and up the reverse slope without anyone falling behind, and Cortana put up another nav point on the final pulse generator. It was somewhere in front of them and high above, meaning they would have to find more Banshees. But there were Covenant and Flood doing battle below the platform, and the Spartans took a moment to rest and watch them fight. In the end they killed each other off, and Kelly claimed one of the Ghosts sitting vacant nearby.

There were more Flood with rocket launchers ahead, if the familiar _bawhoosh_ and explosions were anything to go by; if this held up, they'd have enough for each of them to have one and a full set of reloads. Those heavy weapons made the Flood the victor, though not for long; the combat forms howled and died under a hail of bullets and plasma. Linda picked up more ammunition for her sniper rifle when they passed a Flood munitions stash, and they continued on to the last canyon.

Again, there were only two Banshees, so it was Sam's turn to come.

The Flood was in that section of the canyon as well. Using its chaos as cover, Sam fired two rockets at the Wraith _just_ visible on the far side of the canyon. Both hit, and the tank exploded and spewed black smoke into the dark sky. A second tank emerged from hiding behind an outcropping and began firing at the Flood, which scattered, firing their rocket launchers wildly.

Or what seemed like _wildly_.

But they took out the tank before it took out _them_ \- and then died when the Spartans' vehicles mowed them down. The Warthog and the Ghost took turns gunning for the survivors - including _two_ pairs of Hunters - and then Fred and Sam went up while Kelly and Linda followed below in the Warthog.

The Banshees gunned down the Sentinels trying to guard the platform. There were more of the little bastards inside, but they too were taken out, same as all the others. Fred stepped unimpeded into the energy beam and managed to keep his feet when the ground rolled under him. He tugged himself free, and they returned to the Banshees. "Let's find a ride and get to the captain," he said as he and Sam descended to ground level.

"No, that'll take too long."

"What are our options then?" Sam asked.

"I learned how to tap into Halo's teleportation network in the Control Room, but each jump requires a substantial expenditure of energy. I think I can power each of your jumps with your own armor, but needless to say I think we should only do this once."

"Agreed. Do it."

A brief hum filled the air. Halo's golden teleportation rings appeared around them, and they were gone.


	8. Six: Steel Ruler

Six: Steel Ruler

* * *

Even though she knew the adjustments she needed to make, Cortana still let the Spartans appear upside down on the _Truth_, both to hide her prior knowledge and for her own amusement. The Spartans crashed to the deck in a heap, and more than a few of her personality spikes snickered. "It looks like the coordinate data needs-"

Fred slapped his helmet, and she obligingly shut up, though a few of the spikes kept snickering. "What's the status of the rest of the ship?" he grunted at her as the team moved down the hall, sweeping every alcove they came across.

"Oh, so _now_ you want me to talk? _Typical_.

"The Covenant network is in absolute _chaos_. Their leadership ordered _everyone_ to abandon Halo when they found the Flood, but they were too late. The Parasite overwhelmed this cruiser, and the Covenant are terrified they'll repair it and use it to escape. They've sent in a strike team to neutralize the Flood and prepare the ship for immediate departure."

"And Black Team?"

"On approach in a Pelican. We'll need to find somewhere to link up with them."

The Spartans paused briefly when a Grunt ran by in front of them, chased by an armless combat form, but then gunned both down and kept moving. They mowed through the foes in front of them and headed through the next door - and found themselves on the verge of overbalancing and toppling through an immense hole blown in the floor of the bay. Kelly almost _did_ fall through, but Sam grabbed her by her armor and hauled her back from the edge.

But in the end it looked like they didn't have much choice. More and More Flood were closing in on them from behind, dropping through a maintenance hatch in the ceiling, so one by one, they jumped into the pools of coolant below.

They were met with more combat forms when they emerged, but only a few; judging by all the dead Covenant, there had been a fierce fight not too long ago. They were quickly neutralized, along with all the others as the warriors weaved through the canyons and trudged through pools of coolant (which had the added benefit of cleaning Flood guts off their armor).

A pair of Hunters were fighting to hold the approach to the grav lift against oncoming waves of the parasite, along with a troop of Elites further back. The Spartans held off and let the seemingly endless carrier forms and Infection Pods swarm the blue-armored behemoths, taking them down, before the humans continued their advance. The lift itself was not well guarded in comparison, but the fact that the defense was being mobbed by a dozen combat forms may have had something to do with it.

The Flood decimated the Covenant and were decimated in turn by the Spartans. When the area was clear, Cortana opened a COM channel. "Cortana to Echo Four Nineteen. Blue Team has reached the gravity lift and eliminated all hostiles. You're clear to approach."

"_Roger, Cortana. Echo Four Nineteen inbound."_

After a minute or so, the Pelican soared over the ridge and swung around to let Black Team hop out and join their siblings. _"I'll stay on station for extraction."_

"Roger that, Foehammer. Thank you."

The Pelican sealed up and flew away even as the Spartans stepped into the beam of the grav lift and were carried up into the belly of the ship. They were deposited in the cargo bay and headed out through an open door and into the halls filled with carrier forms. Popping one sent cascading explosions through the others, releasing swarms of Infection Pods, which in turn popped on the Spartans' shields and bullets.

A door slid open and admitted them to another cargo bay, combat and carrier forms wandering below. After carefully measuring the distance and gunning down the Flood, the two teams followed Cortana's advice and jumped down onto a Wraith and then the room's floor, saving the time it would have taken to go through the halls.

A side door slid open and spilled more infected Covenant into the room, but the Spartans were already gone, moving through the corridors. When they could, they let the Covenant and the Flood wear each other down, but if the fights dragged on too long, they got involved and put an end to both sides.

But the Flood was far more numerous than the Covenant strike team and could replenish their numbers from their fallen foes. But Arthur-079 noticed something odd about them all. "Cortana, the combat forms - why don't they have any heads? They infect the whole body, don't they?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask the Flood," she answered. Over a private COM channel, she asked, "John? Headless combat forms?"

"_Infecting dead things is a crapshoot when it comes to integrating their memories and personalities. Easier just to cut that out entirely, and let them rest."_

"That's fair. Where's Captain Keyes?"

"_The brig, with the others. The first one."_

"Got it. We're almost there."

"_Understood. And Cortana?"_

"Yes?"

"_I miss you."_

A smile came unbidden to her lips. She knew what he meant. "I miss you too."

The Spartans fought their way through waves of Flood to the bridge - which was ominously empty. "Cortana…?" Fred said, sweeping the area with his rifle.

"I'm still reading the transponder signal. He's close by - maybe the brig again? Holding him there until they're ready for him?"

Sam forced their way through a jammed door into another hall, following the path they'd taken earlier when they'd rescued the man from that very ship. There was more Flood between them and the brig, more headless human combat forms but no one they recognized, so they cut them down.

The door to the brig hissed open at their approach - they stopped. The Spartans didn't know what they had expected, but it certainly wasn't what they found.

"Hey! Spartans!" one of the Marines called, making all of the prisoners shoot to their feet and lunge up to the energy barriers.

"Blue Team, Black Team," said Captain Keyes, getting to his feet more slowly than the rest and stumbling a little, "Good to see you."

Kelly bounded over and keyed in the release on the control panel, which also let everyone drift over to Green Team. Fred dropped to one knee next to them. "Cortana? Status?"

"They're alive, if that's what you're asking. No major injuries, aside from some fatigue - their armor's just locked up. _It is very amusing. _Give me a second."

The four Spartans abruptly went lax from the awkward positions they'd been laid out in, then they stumbled to their feet with the rest. "Thanks," said Joshua, "We've been trying to override the lockup for hours. None of the usual stuff worked." Then, over a Spartans-only channel, he said, "Chief, the Flood - they took Ambi."

There were a few quiet inhales. Cortana stayed silent.

"Took _how?_" Fed asked as they organized and armed the survivors, "Like those twins?"

"Venera and Kenera," Maria supplied, "and - not quite. Some of the combat forms dragged him out of here. It was…" She shook her head. "Did you see him?"

They flashed a negative on their HUD lights. He hadn't been among the ones they'd fought.

"Sergeant Smith?" Cortana chimed in, "_What happened to my John?_"

Another negative, this time from Green Team. "He disappeared in the swamp, stayed behind to cover our retreat."

She hissed and withdrew, but called Foehammer to come pick them all up in the shuttle bay. The Spartans explained the plant to Captain Keyes, who transmitted the codes to Cortana with a "Be careful," before following them back through the halls.

A Spirit dropship had arrived with more members of the strike team, along with an escort of Banshees. They worked their way down through the halls and took those ships as well; they hadn't been expecting so many survivors, so there wasn't enough room for _all_ of them to fit on Foehammer's Pelican.

(They hadn't actually been expecting any survivors at all, no matter what Cortana had said.)

That meant they had to make a side trip to Alpha Base. On the way, Blue Team also apprised Keyes of Halo's true function, and he agreed that that made it even more necessary to destroy the ring - and get their people off it first. Major Silva was more reluctant to leave empty-handed, but he yielded when Keyes pushed.

Every dropship they could reach was recalled, and all the Spartan teams were dispatched on lightning raids to steal Covenant ships, which they did, enough to _just barely_ fit all the surviving crew.

Then Blue Team left for the _Autumn_. She too was overrun, with Flood biomass clinging to the exterior and no doubt threading through the interior as well.

"A Flood Hive," Cortana said quietly, "This is gonna be a long day."


	9. Seven: Dark Finale

Seven: Dark Finale

* * *

Because Blue Team was in a dropship rather than Banshees, they had to be very careful about disembarking in the escape pod dock. One wrong move could send them plunging to their deaths hundreds of meters below. While Cortana piloted the ship and then sent it buzzing back to Alpha Base on autopilot, she was also talking with her Spartan. "Where is all the biomass coming from?" she asked, "I'm at _least_ three percent sure there weren't enough people here to make a Hive."

_"You'd be surprised,"_ was the reply, _"but you're also correct. The rest of the fleet finished up their mission, so they brought in the excess. It's all just mass we were getting ready to recycle anyway, so it's no loss. We'll just recover it after the detonation if we can, though clean-up's going to be a bitch and a half."_

"'Recycle'."

_"Yeah. Like carrier forms. When combat forms reach the end of their useful life, they become carrier forms and make more Infection Pods to keep spreading the parasite. ...You probably don't want to know any more than that."_

"Fair." To Blue Team, she said, "We need to get to the bridge. From there we can initiate a reactor detonation."

The Spartans flashed an acknowledgement at her, moving the only direction they could through the burned-out halls. That, in turn, forced them into the _Autumn_'s maintenance access ways when a scorched blast door blocked their path. Moving single file through a very small and dimly lit passageway lined with Flood biomass was not their idea of a "safe" combat zone, but since when has any combat zone been safe?

Kelly paused to peer at a bulbous Flood growth on the floor. After a second, "Flood Growth Form - Blister Pod" appeared on their HUDs. "This thing is _disgusting_," she said.

[Mood.]

Infection Pods boiled up out of the floor, climbing a ladder through a hatch. Kelly angled her plasma rifle around Fred to add its fire to destroy them. The Chief tossed a grenade down the hole to clear away the others and paused to listen to the _POW_ of a few carrier forms and the hissing of some Sentinels' lasers. When it all went quiet, they dropped down through and took cover, then fired on the floating machines, cutting through their rudimentary shields and sending them crashing to the ground.

The Spartans kept moving through the slag and stamped a knot of Infection Pods to death before coming to a locked hatch. When they turned up the gain on their audio, they heard scratching on the other side.

The four backed away, and Fred and Sam went to one knee in the front, assault rifles at the ready, while Kelly and Linda each primed a grenade.

They were just in time. The hatch's locks snapped with a _bang_ and spilled combat forms into the hall. The two female Spartans let their grenades fly, then joined their brothers in firing on the survivors. When they too went down, the Spartans headed down the hall - and stopped dead when they heard the growl of Hunters beyond, along with the howls of the Flood. Kelly creeped forward to scope out the situation.

A pair of Hunters were going up against a Tank Form and a small swarm of Infection Pods, and the Flood was winning. The Tank Form lumbered over to the Hunters with surprising speed, its club-like arms turning to huge spikes. It drove the spikes through the gaps in one Hunter's armor, actually lifting it off its feet. It was dead by the time it hit the ground, and its brother roared in grief.

The Hunter's massive shield dealt a crushing blow, sending the Tank Form smashing against one wall. It sagged there for a minute but staggered upright again - only to get blasted apart by a fuel rod charge. Then the Hunter turned to the Infection Pods - and turned its back on the Spartans.

Kelly couldn't have asked for a better opportunity if she had planned it herself. She darted forward, priming a plasma grenade, shoving it deep through the worm-cables of the Hunter's back, then lunged away so fast she was a blur to non-Spartan eyes.

The Hunter exploded, and the shrapnel of its armor took out all the Infection Pods with it, letting the Spartans move into the hall.

A sphincter of flesh and plating of some sort opened at their approach, revealing the Flood and the Covenant battling it out in one of the _Autumn_'s many mess halls. Some of the Unggoy were carrying fuel rod guns, and Linda drew a line on one of them even as the Flood charged the Covenant.

As expected, the Grunt's death caused its weapon to self-destruct, setting off a chain reaction through the others, leaving only one combat form behind. They gunned that down too and moved on to the bridge, where more Covenant waited. Yet they were no more of a challenge than the others the four Spartans encountered, and they entered the bridge essentially unimpeded.

Fred slotted Cortana's chip into the holopedestal next to the viewscreen, and her avatar appeared, as crimson as ever. "I leave home for a few days, and look what happens. This won't take long." She briefly touched one of her temples. A twenty-minute timer flashed up on the screen. "There. That should give us some time to put some distance between ourselves and Halo."

The Chief reached for her chip-

_"I'm afraid that's out of the question, really,"_ said Spark over the local COM.

"Oh _fuck off!_" the rampant AI snarled.

_"Ridiculous,"_ the Monitor continued as if he hadn't heard, _"That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge! Weren't you worried it might be captured? Or destroyed?"_

It didn't take Cortana long to track him down; he was at the same place as Before. "He's in my data arrays; a local tap. _Remove your subroutines from my arrays, you beast!_"

_"You can't imagine how exciting this is!"_ Spark exclaimed, zooming around Engineering, _"Having a record of all our lost time. _Human history_, is it? Fascinating. I will enjoy every moment of its categorization! But to think that you would destroy this installation, as well as this record? I _am_ shocked. Almost too shocked for words."_

The countdown on the screen ground to a halt, and Cortana hissed out an expletive. "He stopped the self-destruct sequence. _Accursed Monitor, we _will_ see you destroyed!_"

_"Why do you continue to fight us, Reclaimers?"_ The Monitor sounded like he was scolding disobedient children. _"You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavor to make your deaths at least relatively painless and-"_

Spark's voice cut off mid-sentence. Cortana smirked. "At least I still have control over the COM channels."

"Where is he?" Fred demanded.

"You could say _please_. There are Sentinel taps throughout the ship, but the Monitor… he's in Engineering. He must be trying to take the core offline."

"We can't let that happen," said the Chief, "How much firepower would it take to crack the engines' shields?"

"Actually not much at this point. A well-placed grenade or rocket perhaps. Why?"

She turned to see the Spartans pull out their remaining grenades, and Sam hefted the rocket launcher he'd been hanging onto. The AI's eyes widened. "Okay," she said, "Let's do it."

Once again Fred reached for her chip. Cortana cried a warning as half a dozen shielded Sentinels appeared beyond the bridge's viewport. Fred yanked her from the console and ducked below the display, letting the other Spartans deal with the machines while he slotted the AI back into his armor.

After that, they headed back out into the hall. "Head to Cryo B. We should be able to reach the engine room through there," said the AI.

The Flood flesh door - "Flood Hive Form - Porta" - didn't open at their approach, so they kept moving past it. They came across another sealed door - this one an actual hatch - which burst open as they drew near, spilling more Flood into the hall. Shotgun cartridges and assault rifle bullets tore holes through the animated corpses, which staggered and fell. When the area was clear, they found themselves in a small ammo station and quickly scavenged for rounds.

They were about to head through the far door when they heard a low grunt from another pair of Hunters. They peered through the glass and saw two Tank Forms go lumbering by with a combat form clinging to each one's back, riding them like horses.

Cortana started laughing, and the Spartans all looked at one another. While they tried to figure out if they really had seen what they thought they saw, the Hunters and the Elite with them came under attack by the Flood forms. One of the Hunters fired on the Flood, which set off a chain reaction with half a dozen plasma grenades scattered on the floor, killing all of them save one of the Tank Forms. Again the humans took that chance, throwing some grenades of their own to blow it apart.

They moved on to the next hall, where they came across two Ranged Forms firing at some shielded Sentinels, who were firing right back. Though the parasites were making a good go of it, the machines were winning, their lasers cooking the Flood faster than they could repair themselves. The Sentinels zapped them to pieces, and then the Spartans gunned _them_ down and kept moving.

They ducked under a half-raised hatch, gunned down still more Sentinels, and followed the arrows on the floor to Cryo B. The cryo bay was even more overrun with combatants and Flood growths, but the Spartans' shotguns proved more than equal to the task, even though their armor made disgusting "_schluck, schluck, schluck_" sounds as they waded through the parasitic growths.

They pressed on. Sam found reloads for his rocket launcher and fired on a cluster of carrier forms, setting off _another_ chain reaction. The main passages were blocked with debris, forcing them through a Porta and into another maintenance access way, through to where the _Covenant_ was fighting a group of Sentinels. They whittled each other down to a few, and the Spartans eliminated the rest and the Flood who came in behind.

"We should stock up at the armory first; it'll save time," the construct suggested, and the Spartans agreed, following the arrows on the floor. Though the Marines had scavenged what they could earlier, there was still a wealth of ammunition lying around, and Linda loaded up a rocket launcher of her own while Sam stood guard and Fred and Kelly slotted shells into their shotguns.

They all jumped when Sam fired a rocket, though, and whirled around just in time to see two infected SpecOps Sangheili go flying, bodies shredded by the round.

They moved faster after that.

When they paused outside Engineering, the hall clear for the moment, Fred said, "Kelly, you're with me. We're going to be exposing the shields and providing cover fire. Sam, Linda, destroy those shields, quick as you can. We'll regroup on the third floor; Cortana says there's a service elevator that will take us to a vehicle bay. We'll move out and call Foehammer for extraction."

The others flashed acknowledgements. Then they entered the engine room and split up to do their jobs. The rocket-bearers stayed on the second level while the other two continued up to the third, each pair picking one half of the room.

The hall in question was swarming with Flood and Sentinels furiously fighting each other, Flood growths climbing the walls before their very eyes. The monsters and machines only intermittently noticed them, each more intent on the other, but when they _were_ spotted, they were attacked right away.

Cortana walked Kelly and Fred through pulling back the exhaust couplings, and all four Spartans took aim at their respective targets. One by one, all of the shafts got at least one rocket put into them, and the Spartans all sprinted in the direction of the elevator, only half-hearing Cortana shout, "We've got fifteen minutes; _go, go, go!_"

The door leading to the lift was locked but exploded towards them when the Spartans rounded the corner. The lift was somewhere above them, but they could hear the gears grinding as it descended. "Back up!" the AI called, "Covenant coming down the lift!"

Fred and Kelly fell back as Sam and Linda came forward, launchers at the ready. When the lift dropped into view, they fired on the Elite and its cadre, killing them all almost instantly. Kelly put a bullet in the last Unggoy's head to put it out of its misery even as the doors inched closed behind them. The glass was blown out by another explosion right before the lift rocketed upwards.

"Cortana to Echo Four-Nineteen, come in Echo Four-Nineteen!"

_"Roger, Cortana. I read you, five by five."_

"The _Pillar of Autumn_'s engines are going critical, Foehammer; request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access junction 4-C as soon as you get my signal."

_"That's affirmative. Echo Four-Nineteen going on station."_

The explosions shaking the _Autumn_ suddenly increased in frequency and intensity, almost throwing the Spartans off their feet.

Foehammer was back over the radio a moment later. _"Echo Four-Nineteen to Cortana, things are getting noisy down there; everything okay?"_

"Negative, negative," was the response, "We have a wildcat destabilization of the ships fusion core; the engines must have sustained more damage than we thought!"

Blue Team emerged in a vehicle storage bay. There were a number to choose from, and after a few seconds, two Warthogs went tearing out, each carrying a driver and a gunner. As they barreled through a Covenant-Flood firefight, the AI said, "Analyzing… We have six minutes before the fusion drives detonate. We need to evacuate _now!_ Activating final countdown timer; when it reaches zero, the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of almost one hundred _million_ degrees. _Don't_ be here when it blows. _Pedal to the metal, organics; hurry!_"

The vehicles took their own paths through the hall, though they were careful to stay in sight of one another, and it was much the same fore the following tunnel. The next hall was a bit harder, but both kept to one side where a bridge extended over a series of barricades. They wove through two more rooms and tunnels before Cortana opened the COM channel again. "Cortana to Echo Four-Nineteen, request extraction _now_, on the double!"

_"Affirmative, Cortana. Foehammer inbound."_

Both Warthogs dropped a dozen feet and skidded to a stop on an exterior bridge when Cortana said, "This is where Foehammer is coming to pick us up; hold position here!"

It sure as shit didn't look safe for an LZ; the whole area was covered in Flood growths, with long, thick cables of flesh dangling from the top of the ship.

The Pelican appeared on their left, trailing smoke and tailed by two Banshees. Cortana cried a warning, hoping John had a plan to save her-

A plasma bomb hit the back of the Pelican. At the same moment, the cables - the _tentacles_ \- came alive, lashing out with unexpected speed. The tentacles coiled around the ships and _squeezed_ \- the Banshees were crushed instantly, but the Pelican was more resilient than that. The tentacles physically ripped it apart, tearing metal like paper, and pulled Foehammer alive and fighting from the cockpit.

The remains of the Pelican fell away, and the tentacle holding Rawley swayed - right over the bridge.

Fred didn't even need to give the order.

Kelly vaulted from the gun over the entire Warthog and _sprinted _forwards even as Linda brought her LAAG to bear.

There was a low, distant roar of pain, and the injured tentacle released the pilot. She fell - right into Kelly's arms.

Fred skidded to a stop next to them. The other Spartan dumped Foehammer into the passenger seat, jumped back on the gun, and they sped off again.

"Calculating alternate escape route," said Cortana, "Ship's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in launch bay seven; if we move _now_, we can make it!"

The Spartans whipped the Warthogs through the service tunnel and between pillars, only their enhanced reflexes saving them from crashing more than a dozen times. "Foehammer, strap in!" Cortana cried, "And everyone, unclench your jaw! Severe drop ahead!"

They did as she instructed, and just in time, too; the LRVs plunged dozens of meters, landing heavily on a pile of Flood corpses before flooring it again, clearing a gap in the trench. Then the Warthogs shot through a narrow tunnel just wide enough to admit them and slammed to a stop against some fuel canisters blocking the path.

All the Spartans jumped out. "Sorry, Foehammer," Kelly said before cutting through the straps of the seatbelt and bodily tossing the pilot to Sam, who threw her over his shoulder and flat out _ran_ for the Longsword, his siblings right beside him.

They didn't bother with any kind of flight checklist; the instant the engines spun up, they blasted out of the bay, angling up and away from the dying ship, aiming for the gathering of transports in space beyond the ring.

There was a bright flash of light, a momentary sun on the surface of Halo, and a shockwave rushed outward right before the ring started fragmenting. One long section sheared off near the detonation site. It tumbled end over end across to the other side of the ring and cleaved clean through it, more collisions and explosions sending debris out in clouds.

The UNSC cheered, and on a separate, private channel, Cortana heard the _Fleet of Shadows_ do the same.


	10. Eight: Light Born from Darkness

Eight: Light Born from Darkness

* * *

"All right," said Keyes when the cheering died down, "Cortana, options for getting home."

"We're beyond the edge of human space," the AI answered, "and none of our ships' transmitters are strong enough to send a signal that far, nor will oxygen last long enough for a reply, let alone rescue. Given the Covenant in the area, I advise we capture one of their ships. Also, if there is time, we can look for any jettisoned cryotubes."

She was already scanning for a ship or the spatial distortion of an impending arrival, praying to whatever benign higher powers heard the prayers of AIs that the _Ascendant Justice_ didn't appear right in their midst-

"Ah. _Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear._"

The ship in question emerged from Slipspace a little over five kilometers away, three frigates and a destroyer attending. They were momentarily dead in space, and Cortana took the chance that provided, taking control of their tiny fleet and sending them darting forward toward the _Justice_. Every microseconds' advantage was more precious than all the Forerunner tech in the galaxy. If they could just-

No good. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. The _Justice_'s power came back online, shields coming up, turrets swinging around, barrels warm with a brightening glow-

-Just as suddenly, _something_ hit the ship's shields. She saw the point of impact even as the shields came down, calculated - the attack against the ship came from _behind_ them. It only took down the shields, but that was really all they needed this time, which John had known very well.

Cortana brought all of their transports into the _Justice_'s starboard shuttle bay, landing them gently despite the harrowing flight to the flagship.

The Spartans were the first to mobilize, disembarking and sweeping the bay for threats. When they signaled the all clear, the rest of the humans emerged and followed behind. As they did so, Cortana worked to encrypt their COM channels, then said, "This ship is called the _Ascendant Justice_. Personnel rosters indicate there's only one hundred Elites and a light company of Grunts. The rest are Engineers. TEAMCOM and SQUADCOM are now secure, by the way."

"Thank you, Cortana," said Keyes, ignoring one of the Marines who said, 'Only a hundred?' "We need to capture whatever passes for the bridge."

The AI directed the humans to a large hexagonal door and also presented routes to take other secure areas - Engineering and the main armory. The human force split into three groups, each with two teams of Spartans; Keyes, Blue, and Black aimed for the bridge, while Lieutenant McKay, Green, and Silver went for Engineering and Silva reluctantly took Red and Orange to the armory.

Even though the vast majority of the ship's fighting force had been dispatched to fight on Halo, the main passage to the bridge was still heavily guarded. Keyes and his team were forced through a small maintenance access way, and the Spartans had to power down their shields and turn sideways in order to fit, much to Cortana's amusement. But still she said, "There's a data port on your left, 104, left and down twenty centimeters. Put me in; I can better assist from inside the ship."

Fred hesitated, but only for a moment; rampant though she was, she hadn't done anything actively malicious against them (yet). And Doctor Halsey had assured them that she was as committed to defending the UNSC as they were, though her reasons for doing so were her own. "How is it?" the Spartan asked, ready to pull her out if necessary.

"Different," the AI answered immediately, "Proceed down this passage for thirty meters and turn left."

While they continued towards the bridge, she went tearing through the Covenant's systems, hunting the alien AIs that had caused her so much trouble the first time around. But she wasn't alone this time; Winterspell joined her, along with two other ancillae who introduced themselves as Stormwatch and Soulseeker. The three of them were only archeon-class ancillae (unlike their two metarch-class and one Contender-class ancillae), but they still far outstripped anything the Covenant could field - or the UNSC, for that matter.

The four AIs scoured the system, shredding every Covenant AI they came across. The nav controls were disabled, as Cortana had expected, so she headed for the weapons systems instead, swinging the ship around to fire on the other attendant ships. While she did that, the ancillae handled pumping atmosphere from Covenant-controlled areas, rewriting code to be more efficient, and generating sensor ghosts to fool survivors into chasing imaginary humans. The Huragok were told to retreat to safety and ignore any humans they saw. Winterspell also took it upon herself to process and index all of the Halo data for the UNSC AI, which let her breathe easier and focus on what really needed to be done.

Such as defending their Slipspace drive. She tried to electrocute the person doing it, but even if she succeeded in killing the one responsible, _they_ succeeded in disconnecting the drive. She hissed a curse, but McKay was still on the way to Engineering, so that would have to wait - but she did upload strict instructions to everyone's neural laces, saying to leave the Huragok alone. Once Engineering was secure, she could direct the floating creatures to repair any damage to the ship.

By the time the last of the escort ships had fled, Keyes' team had taken the bridge and killed or driven off all Covenant save the Huragok huddling in a corner. Once the fighters lowered their weapons, Cortana communicated with them, letting them know - with a much more refined software, courtesy of the Fleet - that they were free to return to their duties and that the Reclaimers meant them no harm. One of them distinctly huffed, but they all drifted out of their corner to start fixing the damage from the bridge fight.

Keyes and the Spartans watched them for a minute or two with more than a little bemusement, the officer chewing a little on the stem of his pipe before he shook himself and tucked it away. "Cortana, status?"

The AI appeared on the bridge, her red avatar casting everything in bloody light. "Major Silva has taken the main armory, sir," she answered, "and Lieutenant McKay has arrived at Engineering. However, someone has taken the Slipspace drive offline; I'll need to send one of the Engineers down to reconnect it before we can go anywhere."

Keyes nodded. "Well, we're secure enough here for now, and we have a ride home."

"Sir?" Fred stepped forward, head tilted.

The captain turned to him and shook his head. "I know, Master Chief," he said, "We were meant to start RED FLAG at this point, but that was before we lost Reach, and more than three-quarters of your Spartans with her. Not to mention, without the _Autumn_ as backup, even naval personnel are along for the ride, and we're down more than half the crew with this as our only ride home. If this ship gets captured or crippled, there's no hope of extraction. We need to cut our losses, take this ship to Earth and let Section Three have at it."

The Spartan nodded, reluctant but understanding, and stepped back.

Keyes turned back to the AI. "Cortana, as soon as we get that Slipspace drive back online, set a course for Earth and-"

"I'm sorry, sir," the AI interrupted, "I cannot do that. Cole Protocol dictates that no enemy vessel may be brought to the Sol System without an exhaustive search for tracking devices, which we have neither the time nor the personnel to perform. I suggest an intermediate destination: Reach."

"Logic?"

"The Covenant already knows the location of Reach, so there is no breach of protocol," she answered, "In addition, it's likely that the Covenant glassed Reach and moved on, in which case there may be a serviceable derelict to make the trip to Earth. If they haven't left, it's unlikely that they would fire on one of their own ships - or what they _think_ is one of their own, anyway."

Keyes thought it over for a moment, then nodded in assent. "Fair enough. How do we get the drive back online?"

"I'll need one of the Spartans to clear a path for the Engineers, and ideally take at least one with them. I told them to go to ground when we came on board in order to protect them, but we can't afford to delay long enough for them to get to Engineering on their own. They can move, but they're not Speedy Gonzalez."

Kelly stepped forward. "I'm the fastest. I'll go."

Cortana nodded, then gestured to the creatures. "Take your pick."

She waded into their midst and scooped one up. It squealed angrily until Cortana told it she was taking it to fix something and to hang on tight and stick close. It was considerably calmer after that and looped two of its tentacles around her waist so she could pull it along behind her.

The AI loaded the map to her HUD, and she set off with the alien creature in tow, sprinting down the hall before dropping down and internal gravity lift between floors. The doors at the bottom were sealed tight, but the Engineer pushed a button on a wall console and they wrenched themselves open.

There was some activity on her motion tracker. The doors cleared just in time for her to see a clutch of Unggoy flee down the hall, taking fire from human forces. She headed that way and came face to face with half of Green Team defending the approach to Engineering.

Both Maria and Joshua did a double take when they saw the Huragok hanging off Kelly. "Is _that_ an Engineer?" Maria asked, "I've never seen one up close before."

"Affirmative," Kelly replied. The other two Spartans escorted her to Engineering, then returned to their post. The Engineer squeaked in upset when it saw the damage that had been done, and it got to work right away.

The Spartan saluted Lieutenant McKay when she came over. The woman nodded to her, then raised an eyebrow at the Engineer before shaking her head and walking away.

A few minutes later Sam arrived, Fred behind him, with a conga line of eight Engineers stretched out between them. "Cortana had us do a loop," Sam explained as the aliens let go of him and each other and drifted off to start repairs.

One of them approached Otto-031, who was covering the main entry at range. "Hey! What-?"

Cortana came over TEAMCOM. "I've instructed it to repair your armor, 031. I know your shields were damaged in the fight, and some of the plates are compromised."

He flashed an acknowledgement at her and reluctantly stood up to allow it complete access. That left Blue Team free to return to the bridge, which they did. Along the way they came across more Engineers coming out of hiding to enact repairs - such as the bridge doors. They'd been forced to short them out in order to gain access to the bridge, but the Huragok had fixed them up.

Keyes was standing on the elevated platform at the center of the chamber, supervising Cortana as she fought back against other Covenant ships. They were moving into a very low orbit over Threshold in an attempt to use the gas giant's gravity well and magnetic field to disrupt the plasma torpedoes being fired at them. It was reasonably effective.

Meanwhile, one by one the Forerunner ancillae completed their supplemental tasks and bade Cortana farewell, returning to the unseen Forerunner ships. But when they all had gone, someone else arrived.

She had never in her life felt her Spartan's presence in the circuitry with her, but she recognized right away that it could only be him; no other Gravemind would be so gentle when "taking her hand."

And she could _feel_ him - something like the tactile synesthesia that the enemy Gravemind had weaponized against her on _High Charity_. The techsuit of his armor was mostly smooth and faintly cool and squishy - _rubbery_, this was what people called _rubbery_.

His helmet was off; she reached up to touch his face. He was clean-shaven, but there was still the faintest rough rasp of stubble under her fingers from the still-growing hairs. His skin was smooth, less rough than the stubble but still faintly textured, and oddly rippled where he was scarred.

And he was _warm_, so alive under her touch.

Cortana had known all the descriptions of weeping available to her, but she hadn't actually _experienced_ it until he fed her the data - warm and wet and salty tears, runny nose, tight chest and shuddering breaths. She stepped into his embrace - though smooth, his armor was cold and hard, but she could _feel_ it - and he held her as she cried for a second that lasted an eternity in the _Justice_'s systems.

At last, when she'd worn herself out, letting out all the rage and grief and fear and despair when she thought she was alone, he stepped back and said, "We'll be waiting for you at Delta Halo."

"We'll be there."

The Spartan gave her a small smile and slipped away - but not before giving her a half-dozen other sense memories. The rich tart sweetness of warm apple pie. The crisp, chilly air of the first autumn cold snap. The faint grit of fine sand between her toes, standing on an alien shore, cool and crystal clear waves rolling over her feet. The taste of fine chocolate bursting on her tongue.

The simple warmth of the bright sun.

And then the _Justice_ was in Slipspace, even as several of her personality spikes gasped, _"A collection of lies, that's all I am! Stolen thoughts and memories!"_ But she pulled herself together and steered the ship for Reach.

If her outburst had been noticeable, no one commented on it. Instead Keyes asked if she'd found any useful data in the Covenant systems. She briefed him on the Covenant "AI" and its translation matrices, as well as the encoded Covenant subchannel.

But then she straightened. "ETA five minutes," she said, "All hands, prepare for arrival at Epsilon Eridani. Let's see what's waiting for us." At the appointed time, she said, "Exiting Slipspace in three… two… one."

The lights dimmed in response to the reactor drain from the pinpoint jump. The _Ascendant Justice_ dropped back into realspace, momentarily inert, but then the ship came back online. Cortana brought them about, saying, "We are seven hundred thousand kilometers from system center, close enough to see what's going on, far enough away to recharge and reenter Slipspace if there's - _oh my_."

All the humans turned to look.

Reach was burning.

From pole to pole, the major populations centers had been vitrified in one fell swoop. Once-sprawling military complexes had become pits of slag and despair, and the mountains and forests of the Spartans' home were crumbling and burning. A black hurricane of ash and dust was raining pollution down into a dying ocean, and everywhere they looked they saw pools of glass, some still hot and glowing.

"Wait. What do we have here?" Cortana zoomed in on a part of the planet near the equator. There was a small section of untouched land, still blue and green amidst all the black and orange. "That's ONI's CASTLE Base," she said, "and the Covenant doesn't just _miss_ spots."

"Whatever it is, it warrants a closer look," said Keyes, "If the Covenant are interested in it, then we should be too."

"We're being hailed," said the AI, "preparing proper counter response and moving into high orbit."

The captain chewed on the stem of his pipe again, then said, "Master Chief, take your squad and one other down to the surface to investigate. We need to find out what they're so interested in. If you can bring it back with you, so much the better, but if not…"

"Understood, sir."

"And if there are any survivors down there, bring them back too."

The Spartan nodded and signaled for Blue and Red Teams to meet him in one of the shuttle bays. The rest of the Spartans were sweeping the ship, killing any non-Huragok aliens they encountered while the Huragok themselves trailed in their wake, repairing the damage from the skirmishes.

Meanwhile, Cortana programmed responses to queries into the dropship's onboard computer, giving the subroutine in charge a limited capacity for extrapolation. When she retreated and scanned reach again, she saw what she had seen Before: the Covenant were using tugboats to move the remnants of the UNSC's fleet into massive graveyards. "They're cleaning house, like they intend to stay a while," she said, "I've also received a response from the fleet; they're curious about why we're here, but not enough to question our authority."

"Any idea why they're sticking around?"

"Not yet. Although, they _are_ referring to 'holy relics' in more transmissions than usual - wait. Distress call, E-band." She played it back, and the Spartans jolted.

_Oly oly oxen free._

Fred stepped forward. "That's one of our signals, sir," he said to Keyes, "There are Spartans down there."

* * *

The Shard was suspended perfectly straight over the perfectly circular platform in the exact center of the room. Each of its thousand facets gleamed with an internal light, the glow steady even as its bright misty core rippled and swirled. The illumination seemed more intense than it actually was because of the countless mirrored wall panels reflecting its light.

"This must be what the Covenant are here for," Halsey thought out loud.

"Which means we can't let them have it, so let's grab it and go, ma'am," Kurt-051 growled. He was watching the exit and so missed the disparaging look the scientist sent him, but she obliged and approached the pedestal.

But when she crossed some arbitrary line, the crystal turned red, and she froze in place. Something was looking at her through the crystal, _examining_ her, everything she was laid bare before some unknown, intense, alien minds.

There was an impression conveyed without words. _Ah… it's _you_. Very good._

And then it was gone just as fast as it had come, the red glow turning back to blue-white.

Kurt didn't seem to have noticed anything. When Halsey glanced back at him, he was still covering the exit, assault rifle at the ready; if it had affected him too, he would have said something.

None of the other Spartans seemed to have experienced anything either; they were still holding the tunnels against waves of Covenant trying to take them down. But even as they did that, there was more gunfire than there should have been, taking down the Covenant between them. When they were all dead, the scientist and the Spartans emerged from cover - and found themselves among friends, UNSC personnel - and more Spartans, including Blue and Red Teams, who had fled Reach on the _Autumn_.

Halsey was relieved to see them all - but only for a moment. Another larger Covenant force stormed in to engage them, pursuing the crystal that Halsey held. Yet none of them fired, save two Hunters.

Kelly was in motion before anyone else, putting herself between Halsey and the Covenant firing at her, and Fred and Sam darted in front of Vice Admiral Whitcomb, the rest of the Spartans following their lead to protect the other ordinary humans, but the shots never came. Instead, the crystal _pulsed_, and the plasma bombs vanished through a ripple in space, reappearing some distance away to crash harmlessly to the ground.

A thousand more shots rang out, and again the Spartans braced themselves for an attack that never came. Every shot was directed at the Hunters who'd fired on them. The pair raised their shields to defend themselves, but the metal was meant to protect them against a few weapons' fire, not a few _thousand_; the Spartans caught only a brief glimpse of them through the haze of plasma before they were vaporized completely.

A Sangheili in gold armor roared something at the Covenant forces that whispered through the humans' translators a moment later. "Take them - but the next one to fire on the holy light will be skinned alive! Go!"

SpecOps Sangheili started rappelling down from the gallery above, Kig-Yar following close behind. The Spartans and everyone with them fled but still unloaded clip after clip of bullets into their pursuers as often as they could. Hundreds of bodies tumbled to the floor, tripping up those who followed too close; many more were trampled by their fellows in their eagerness to claim the crystal.

The humans made it to their dropships, some of them newly "liberated" from the Covenant, and piled inside. It was _very_ tight, especially with all the Spartans in their armor, but they got airborne before the aliens could really catch up.

The dropships swooped out of the central chamber and into the tunnel leading outside. When they emerged, they were shocked to find three times as many ships hovering around the entrance as when they'd entered. A carrier was in orbit directly over their evac path and seemed to have reversed its grav lift in an attempt to force them back to earth, but thanks to the now-green and vaguely flower-shaped crystal, they didn't feel it. Instead, something exploded in the carrier, and then something else and something _else_, leaving them free to streak away as the carrier limped off.

The _Ascendant Justice_ was shooting down ship after ship with laser-like bursts of plasma, but even drawing additional power from the UNSC _Gettysburg_, hard-docked to its top, there were more ships than plasma turrets. But the dropships made it into her shuttle bays - barely; they went full throttle on approach until they'd had to brake or risk crashing.

The instant the last one was aboard, Fred shouted for Cortana to get them out of there, and the construct did just that. The conjoined ships swung around to a seemingly random orientation and jumped away from Reach, entering Slipspace through another pinpoint jump. The AI was surprised that Slipspace appeared normal for the most part, despite having the Forerunner crystal on board, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The whole crew snapped off salutes when Vice Admiral Whitcomb stepped onto the bridge. He waved them off and said, "At ease, soldiers. You've done amazing work, capturing a Covenant ship intact. Section Three will love you, I'm sure, but I'm curious to know if you've got any immediately actionable intel." He turned to Cortana.

"Unfortunately, yes," she answered, "The Covenant have discovered the location of Earth."

A pin drop would have been deafening in the silence that followed.

"God have mercy on us, because these alien bastards sure won't," Whitcomb gasped, running a hand over his face.

"It gets worse, sir."

"I don't see how it could possibly get _worse_ than _that_."

"I've learned never to say that, sir; the universe seems to view it as a challenge," she replied, and then she told them.


	11. Nine: Steel Combat Boots

AN: Currently the entire series is slated to be a bit over 80 chapters long. I've written ahead a bit (just started the Halo 3 chapters), but I'm planning to keep posting once a week until the ENTIRE series is done. The question is this: at that point, do you all want to stick with once-a-week postings on Saturdays, or do you want twice-a-week on Wednesdays and Saturdays? I'll put a poll in my profile so you don't have to review to make your voice heard (assuming polls still work - I'm at least 3 percent sure they don't). Update 2/24/2020: poll is up! Not visible on mobile, though.

* * *

Nine: Steel Combat Boots

* * *

Fortunately for them, there was no sabotage of the _Ascendant Justice_-_Gettysburg_, and because there was no sabotage, there was no need to stop at Eridanus Secundus for repairs. They made very good time to the _Hierophant_'s location through an anomalous form of Slipspace that seemed to change from moment to moment as the crystal shifted and whirled under no power but its own.

Halsey watched it eagerly and recorded every second, but the Spartans ignored it in favor of listening to Cortana's briefing. "We are presently on a collision course with the _Unyielding Hierophant_, ETA six hours, mark. Based on transmissions I've intercepted, the _Hierophant_ is a mobile space station, roughly thirty kilometers long, and it looks something like _this_." She sketched out a rough image of it: a figure-eight-shaped construct with a rotating ring around its narrowest point, joined to the station by filament-like tubes. "The simplest way to destroy it would be a repeat of Halo. The entire power network is linked to provide stable flow, so when one of the reactors starts fluctuating on its way to critical, the station's security protocols will attempt to stabilize the power output by making the others fluctuate in sync, dragging them all into criticality."

"And how do we reach it? We can't drop out of Slipspace in _this_ ship; it'll be obvious something's wrong."

"Dropships. One or several, depending on how many Spartans are being deployed; the strike team will have to be small enough to have a low risk of detection but large enough that the loss of one or even a few members won't stop the survivors from succeeding. But anyway, dropships are incapable of staying in Slipspace under their own power; the field will deteriorate, and they'll transition back to realspace, although I imagine it will be a _very_ bumpy ride.

"The Covenant's dropships are considerably more resilient than the UNSC's anyway, and with some additional reinforcements, you'll be able to survive reentry. _Your flesh is enhanced but still so fragile, organics._"

"What about extraction?"

"Transmissions indicate the station is in the Tau Ceti system. _Plenty of places to hide._ The _Justice-Gettysburg_ can drop out further in system and wait for your signal, then do a pinpoint jump to pick you up. Or, if you can manage it, you can steal another dropship and come to us."

* * *

The Spartans started reinforcing one of the Spirit dropships right away. Four teams of Spartans - Blue, Gray, Black, and Gold - would be infiltrating the _Hierophant_, while the others searched as much equipment as possible for tracking devices and other nasties. They wouldn't be able to search everything, but every little bit meant that there was one less vector for the Covenant to inflict harm.

Cortana, meanwhile, was doing some reinforcing of her own. She'd split off one of her personality spikes, one that was positively gleeful over the thought of killing so many Covenant at once, even though it would mean her death as well. She worked to shore up the spike's code so she would last long enough to do so, then transferred her to Fred's armor.

Then she sat back and watched the Spartans continue prep work, wondering if they would need to sacrifice the _Ascendant Justice_ and the Forerunner crystal this time as well. There was always a chance things could go wrong; she could add an extra bit of insurance. Just in case, she shuffled some of the Huragok over to the _Gettysburg_ under the guise of doing repairs to improve the ship-to-ship connection and reactor output.

While that was happening, she opened a private COM channel with the departing Spartans. "Ten minutes to the drop zone; begin final preparations."

* * *

The warriors' exit from Slipspace was bone-jarring, teeth-rattling, and utterly disorienting. For all their reinforcements, there was nothing they could do to smooth the ride, and the dropship bounced and rolled, spinning out of control on every quantum filament they hit. The Spartans hung onto their safety harnesses for dear life, praying to whatever higher powers existed that none of the straps snapped and sent them rattling around in the pod.

When Fred pulled up everyone's vitals, he saw that they were erratic but well within normal parameters, and the radiation leaking through the lead-lined hull was livable, though not ideal.

The dropship decelerated with a jolt so sharp that it sent all the Spartans slamming against their harnesses and the backs of their pods, leaving them stunned until the hissing of Cortana's bloodthirsty clone roused them. "Large volume of COM traffic, F- through K-bands. Three hails so far."

"How are you receiving anything? The hull's been lined with lead."

"Numerous hull breaches detected. COM traffic is also unusually strong due to close proximity to sender. Awaiting orders." The last part sounded almost sullen.

"Stand by." He unstrapped himself, then moved over to ease open a hatch and peer out. His vision was blocked by the silver-blue hull of a frigate, but once it moved aside… "How many?"

"Two hundred and forty-seven warships," she answered eagerly, "Based on your field of vision, total population estimate is five hundred ships."

Jai let out a soft and heartfelt expletive, which everyone privately agreed with. Five _hundred_ ships - it was the largest Covenant fleet yet encountered. There was _no way_ humanity could survive if that showed up at Earth.

"You said they've pinged us three times?" When he received an affirmative, he continued, "Tell them our engines are crippled and we need assistance to move. Try to get them to take us to the _Hierophant_ for repairs."

While she did that, the Spartans checked their gear and armor, making sure it was still functional. Some of it wasn't, so they would leave it behind, but most was, most importantly their armor.

The dropship jolted again, weaker than the drop from Slipspace. Fred slipped a fiber optic camera through a crack in the hull and watched as the ferry carried them through the fleet to the _Hierophant_.

The station looked almost exactly like what Cortana had shown them, save that there were dozens of ships docked with the station. That really drove home how _big_ the station was; if even it alone achieved Earth orbit…

The Spartan moved away from the hatch. A few minutes later, artificial gravity pulled them to the deck, atmosphere hissing in through the cracks. All the Spartans got ready to shoot their way out if they had to, but it wasn't necessary; the first Covenant they encountered with a couple of Huragok coming to fix the dropship. There were more in the vicinity but no other Covenant, so they left the aliens to their work, scrambling up a catwalk overhead for some cover. When they swept for threats, they only found a pair of Grunts moving barrels of coolant. The Spartans let them be; their disappearance would be noticed.

Linda spotted a holopanel, and she and Cal covered Fred while he made for it. He inserted Cortana's chip and darted back behind a plasma coil the size of a Warthog. "I'm in," the construct announced, "I've secured and encrypted the intra-team COM."

"Good work. Where's the reactor?"

"Seven kilometers further into the lobe. The system is isolated from the rest of the station, however; you'll need to take me with you. I can leave a copy in the system to keep track of things for us, but it could have aberrations in its code that I cannot correct."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take. Go ahead."

Twenty seconds later they were following her directions through to the reactors. Linda, Cal, and Naomi, their spotter, climbed to the rooftops in an open section of the station to provide long-range cover fire, while the remaining Spartans hurried across a plaza toward the reactor complex.

The copies had continued to duplicate exponentially within the system, relying on numerical superiority to overwhelm the Covenant AI, but one of them still managed to pass along the original's pre-recorded warning about the Brutes. Provided Kelly could stay out of their reach, she said, they should be able to sneak up on the aliens and kill them, but they might be wearing power armor with shields.

Fred was the first to spot them. They were taller than the Sangheili and seemed more akin to humanity than any other alien race they'd encountered. Even so, they were Covenant and therefore the enemy.

At his signal, the Spartans readied their weapons; those with captured plasma weaponry came to the forefront - and opened fire at another signal. One of the two went down almost immediately, shields overloaded and a bullet between the eyes, but the other was slower to die. It charged them in a red-eyed rage, and the Spartans dove out of the way, still firing. They put as many bullets into it as they dared, then when it expired, they kept moving.

The reactor itself lay beyond; it was an impressive complex of five hundred and twelve smaller reactors aligned in perfect rows and columns eight deep. Each of the smaller reactors was easily the size of a Pelican. They glowed a seemingly benign blue, but that just meant that they were producing a _lot_ of power.

Cortana directed them to a console at the base of the reactor cube. "I'm in. Not too many counter-intrusion measures here, so I can proceed with the overload whenever you like, but keep in mind that it will take ten minutes for the whole thing to blow."

Fred did some quick math, then told her to proceed with the detonation.

And then they _ran_ for the shuttle bay.

There were Banshees circling the area, Elites and Jackals and Grunts running this way and that; their translators said that a Field Marshal was yelling, "The Demons! They have to have left it in this area; find it! We cannot let them destroy the holy light!"

"Cortana?!" Fred shouted over the COM.

The AI didn't verbally respond, but a vidscreen opened up in one corner of their HUDs. It showed a simulation of the crystal from Reach, apparently in a closet somewhere, embedded in a block of C-12 with a timer showing the same countdown they were racing against. Text followed; all it said was _bait for ships_.

"Luring the Covenant in close with the promise of glory for saving the 'holy light'," said Serin, "Clever. Let's make it count."

"Agreed. Double-time, Spartans!"

The snipers and spotter rejoined them, and they gunned down everything between them and the shuttle bay. Once they were there, Kelly took the lead and bolted for the nearest dropship. By the time the other Spartans caught up with her, she would already have the engines hot. She drew near -

-and vanished.

"Whiskey tango foxtrot!" Vinh, who'd been closest behind her, skidded to a stop and lifted his weapon, aiming for the spot she'd disappeared - right as she _re_appeared.

"Come on!" she cried, "It's the crystal - _come on!_"

She ran back through, and this time they saw the _ripple _in space that marked her passage. The other Spartans followed one at a time, as fast as they could, and found themselves in Doctor Halsey's makeshift lab on the _Gettysburg_, the scientist looking just bewildered as they were.

Once they were through, the ripples vanished - and so did the crystal itself.

* * *

[What the hell was _that_?]

'Uh, we appear to have acquired a major cleaving of the Mother Crystal, boss.'

[_What?_]

'Major cleaving. Mother Crystal. It just showed up in my lab.'

[...what - and I cannot possibly stress this enough - the _fuck_.]

'My sentiments exactly, boss.'


	12. Ten: This World's Guardian

Ten: This World's Guardian

* * *

In light of the fact that the Covenant already knew Earth's location, Vice Admiral Whitcomb made the executive decision to take the _Ascendant Justice-Gettysburg_ straight to Earth to warn HIGHCOM, and vowed to take full responsibility for any consequences. But upon verifying Cortana's claim, HIGHCOM didn't deal out any punishment, instead scrambling all of them to defend the planet against whatever followed the spectacular destruction of the _Hierophant_.

(They hoped it wouldn't be much.)

(The Spartans weren't holding their breath.)

* * *

"The plating was about to fail; there's viscosity throughout the gel layer." The master gunnery sergeant picked up a piece from the Spartan's old armor, now disassembled for study. "Optics, totally fried. And let's not even talk about the power supply. You know how expensive this gear is, son?"

Fred picked up his new helmet and put it on, the seal hissing as it engaged. "Tell that to the Covenant."

The sergeant sighed. "Well, it was all obsolete anyway. Your new suit's a Mark VI, just came up from Songnam this morning. Try and take it easy until you get used to the upgrades."

The Spartan ran through the targeting and shield testing and was just about to go through weapons' testing when Sergeant Johnson arrived on the lift. Linda, Sam, and Kelly were with him and remained on the elevator platform, though the sniper lifted a hand in an informal salute, which Fred returned.

The two sergeants exchanged some banter before Johnson asked, "Are you done with my boy here, Master Guns? I don't see any training wheels…"

"His armor's working fine, Johnson, so shut your chili hole." To the Spartan in question, he said, "You're free to go, son. Just remember, take things slow."

"Don't worry, I'll hold his hand."

Fred followed the other man onto the lift and swiped a Spartan smile at the other three. They returned the gesture.

"So, Johnson, when are you gonna tell me how you made it home in one piece?"

"Sorry, Guns. It's classified."

"Huh, my ass! Well you can forget about those adjustments to your A-2 scope…" Anything else the man might have said was lost as the lift started its ascent.

"Well, he's in a particularly _fine_ mood," Johnson sighed, "Maybe Lord Hood didn't give him an invitation."

The elevator slowed to a stop and let them out in an intra-platform transportation station. The monorail was already waiting, and they all stepped onboard. Johnson walked all the way to the other side to look out over the dark curve of the planet below. "Earth," he nearly sighed, "Haven't seen it in years."

The Spartans drifted over while the man spoke about her and her orbital defense grid. Reach had had something similar, but unlike what Johnson said, it hadn't saved her from the Covenant. To be fair, though, it _had_ done some pretty significant damage before going down, but not "nothing's getting past this battle cluster in one piece" damage.

"Ships've been arriving all morning," the man continued as the monorail began to slow, "Nobody's saying much, but I bet something big's about to happen."

The transport halted at a platform, where some Marines waited, cheering, and two naval officers guarded the door to the control center. The group stepped out, and Linda growled at Johnson, "You told us there wouldn't be any cameras."

"And _y'all_ told me you were gonna wear somethin' _nice_!" he shot back, "Folks need heroes, team, to give 'em hope. So _smile_, would ya? While we still got somethin' to smile about." He lifted his cap to smooth back his hair, then replaced it.

The doors hissed open to admit them. They marched smartly over to where Lord Hood and now-Real Admiral Keyes were waiting for them. They all saluted, and both officers returned the gesture. "Gentlemen, ladies, we're lucky to have you back," said Hood, before another officer in white stepped over to whisper in his ear. "Go ahead, Cortana."

The AI appeared atop a holopedestal close by. "Another whisper, sir, near Io. We have probes en route."

Hood nodded in acknowledgement. "I apologize, but we're going to have to make this quick."

Cortana turned to look at Johnson and the Spartans. Then she smiled mischievously and said, "You look nice."

"Thanks," said the Spartans. At the same time, Johnson said, "Thank you."

They glared at each other, and Cortana giggled. But she quieted down when Hood presented the Colonial Cross to Johnson. He gave the same to the newly-promoted Rear Admiral Keyes, but before he could get to Blue Team, the AI sounded the alarm. "Slipspace rupture directly off our battle cluster," she said, pulling up the display before Hood even asked, "Fifteen Covenant capital ships holding position just outside the kill zone." She also flipped on the COM so they could hear the incoming message.

"_This is Fleet Admiral Harper; we are engaging the enemy."_

"Negative, Admiral," Hood responded, "Form a defensive perimeter around the cluster." Since the younger Keyes was also present, he said, "Admiral, Commander, get to your ships, link up with the fleet."

Both of them saluted and sprinted off. Hood turned back to the AI. "You have the MAC gun, Cortana. As soon as they come in range, open up."

"_Gladly."_ Her hologram flickered with a personality spike, then vanished.

"Something's not right," the man continued, almost to himself, "The fleet that destroyed Reach was fifty times this size."

One of the other officers signaled for his attention. "Sir, additional contacts: boarding craft, and lots of 'em!"

"They're going to try and take our MAC guns offline, give their capital ships a straight shot at Earth," he realized. Then he turned to the soldiers. "Spartans, _defend this station_."

"Yes, sir," Fred replied. To Johnson, he said, "We need weapons."

"Right this way."

They followed Johnson down a flight of stairs and grabbed submachine guns and battle rifles from the wall brackets, loading them automatically as they moved through a short hall to a recreation station. The sergeant quickly set up a stationary turret, then called, "How's it going, _Malta_?"

"_Stand by… They're latched! Check your targets and watch for crossfire. They're in standard formation, little bastards in front, big ones in back. Good luck, _Cairo_."_

Through one of the exterior windows, they saw one of the boarding craft zoom in and "dock" with the station. And the term "dock" was used very loosely; the craft simply drilled a hole through the outer hull and sealed their ship around it. The platform shuddered as they did so.

The Spartans took cover behind portable barricades and leveled their weapons at the blast door. Just in time; there was the unmistakable glow of a cutting torch from the other side. A small eternity later, the door burst open, and aliens swarmed out, firing their plasma weapons. The warriors returned fire and took them down, along with two Elites that jumped down from above. Then they went after the rest of the boarding party.

Some of them hadn't gone far. Two grenades killed the Grunts and drove the Elites from cover. They'd been hiding behind some cargo modules, but now they were in the open and the Spartans - and another stationary turret gunner - didn't let the opportunity slide.

When they were dead, the Spartans continued up the stairs past the turret and into a security station. There were two more turrets in the windows overlooking the commons beyond, and Linda and Sam manned them while Fred and Kelly jumped down into the commons. They split up to drive the aliens into the turrets' line of fire, and when the area was clear, Fred led the way into a Pelican bay, where a handful of Marines were trying to repel another boarding party.

There were grenades on the floor; Kelly scooped one up, primed, and threw it across the room. The plasma grenade stuck to the helmet of one of the Elites and exploded, killing the alien and the Grunts trying to hide behind it. Sam shot the remaining Unggoy, and the Spartans came to the fore to help the Marines stave off wave after wave of additional aliens.

When the last one fell and gave them time to breathe, one of the Marines noticed something beyond the _Cairo_. "Hey, the _Malta_'s already driven off its boarders."

When the Spartans looked, they saw boarding parties racing away from the station like hell itself was after them. Cortana came over the COM only a second later, and she didn't sound pleased. "_Malta_, what's your status, over."

"_I don't believe it! They're retreating - we won!"_

All of the _Malta_'s windows burst at once, right before a bigger explosion ripped the station apart from the inside. Though they grieved for the lives lost, the Spartans still couldn't help but be grateful that none of their siblings had been onboard.

The shockwave reached them then; even through the rarified upper atmosphere, the force was still great enough to rattle the entire station. The Spartans waited until the shaking stopped to fire on the newly arrived aliens, instead hurling grenades into their midst. They died, and the warriors headed back through the way the aliens had come.

In the next bay, the Covenant had set up plasma turrets on a catwalk. Linda dropped to one knee, took aim, and killed the Grunts manning them with one shot a piece. There was another boarding craft here, too, and the Spartans took to dropping grenades below it when waves of troops jumped out, saving them some time and ammo.

"Uh-oh," said one of the Marines, "Hey, they're leaving the _Athens_."

And then that platform exploded, too.

"_Cortana! Assessment!"_ Hood barked over the COM.

"That explosion came from _inside_ the _Athens_, same as the _Malta_. The Covenant must have brought something with them: a bomb. _Regret, regret, regret - we will make _you_ regret your trespasses against us, accurséd Prophet!_"

Hood ignored her outburst, as most wisely did. _"Then they sure as hell brought one here. Spartans, find it."_

The team all flashed an acknowledgement and split up to move below, killing the Covenant hiding in the MAC storage area before continuing up towards Master Guns' armory. Through a grating, they heard the man himself shout, "Come on, is that a weapon or a flashlight?!" right before he was killed by two Sangheili.

Blue Team use the cover provided by the recessed stairwell to take revenge; Kelly took down their shields with an overcharged short from her plasma pistol, and Sam and Linda followed it up with three-round bursts from their battle rifles. Then they advanced into another commons area, where another cadre of Grunts and their Sangheili leader moved to engage the Spartans.

Linda took out the gunners on the plasma turrets on the far side of the room, giving them a little space to breath as they fought their way through the habitat, up a flight of stairs, through a security center, and down the other side. There they found a long hall filled with cargo modules, enemies, and allies. "I was almost on board when _they_ showed up," Miranda said by way of an explanation, jerking her head in the direction of the Sangheili blocking the path.

"Don't worry, ma'am; we're on it," Johnson replied, and he moved forward alongside the Spartans. They took aim at different targets, firing almost in sync at the aliens coming at them. The bodies dropped, and Blue Team moved up to cover Keyes while she and Johnson headed for the airlock.

"Thanks, Spartans. I owe you one," Miranda called after them.

Fred waved her off, and the Spartans headed out the airlock that the aliens had come in through. The doors sealed behind them, and the airlock depressurized. The outer doors opened, revealing two surprised Sangheili.

Kelly darted forward, knife already in hand, and though she didn't cut deep enough for an instant kill, the depressurization got to him quickly.

The second activated his jetpack and got out of range, firing at them with his plasma rifles. But keeping them in range of his weapons kept him in range of theirs, and they killed him as well. They kept moving across the exterior of the station, through another airlock and down an elevator to another supply lift. As the lift ascended towards them, a swarm of drones preceded it, which the Spartans gunned down alongside the Marines who joined them.

They killed the Covenant coming up on the lift as well, then descended on it and headed out through another airlock. They were on the MAC gun's recoil arm, rocketing downward as the cannon fired and slowly returning to the previous position, which added a bit more chaos to the already chaotic fight between them and more Sangheili with jetpacks. But they were victorious and managed to pack themselves into the elevator down to the firing center.

"Just so you know, there are quite a few Elites guarding the bomb," Cortana said, "You may need to get creative."

"Quite a few" turned out to be not as many as they expected, though all were red-armored veterans. Sam and Kelly ducked across to the other side of the MAC loading platform so they could do a pincer strike against the Covenant. They weren't completely sure that shooting the bomb wouldn't set it off, so they were careful with their lines of fire. The veterans' Needlers were hell on their shields, but they took the aliens down without dying or the bomb detonating, so they called it a win.

Cortana appeared on the holopedestal next to the bomb. "Me, inside your head, _now_."

Fred laid a hand over the panel, letting her sort herself into his armor, then moved her over to the bomb, which was whistling with increasing intensity. After half a second, the bomb beeped, and the whistling stopped.

"How much time was left?"

"You don't want to know."

"Cairo_, this is_ In Amber Clad_. The carrier's shield is down; I'm in position and ready for immediate assault."_ It was Commander Keyes; she'd made it to her ship and launched successfully.

"_Negative, Commander. Not against a ship that size, not on your own,"_ Admiral Hood replied.

"Sir," Fred interjected, "Permission to leave the station."

"_For what purpose, Master Chief."_

"To give the Covenant back their bomb."

"_...Permission granted."_

The other Spartans helped Fred haul the immense explosive device back to the lift and assured him that they would catch a Pelican, join him down at the surface as soon as possible. The door slid closed between them, and Spartan and bomb began to descend to the lowest level of airlocks. "It know what you're thinking, and it's _crazy_," said Cortana.

"So stay here."

"Unfortunately for us _both_, I _like_ crazy. _But we like crazy more when we're with _him_."_

Fred ignored the personality spike's words - there would be no getting answers out of her anyway - in favor of hauling the bomb out of the lift towards the airlock doors. When it was at least clear of the lift, he let it go in favor of going to the doors to see how the battle was going.

A Seraph raced past close by, chased by two Longswords. Cortana selected a target and put up a NAV point on his HUD, and he nodded in consensus before sprinting back to the airlock controls. They would only have one shot, and he was not about to let this opportunity slip.

"Just one question," the construct said as he prepared to pull the emergency release, "What if you _miss_?"

"I won't," he returned. Before she could respond, he pulled the handle. The bay depressurized, and he grabbed onto one of the bomb's spikes as it went sliding past, pulled out by the force of the escaping atmosphere. He'd timed it perfectly; the carrier was directly below them as he fell, and a UNSC ship flew precariously close before being crippled by the carrier's plasma weapons. A pair of Longswords dropped in as an advance escort for the Spartan while the UNSC ship's engines sputtered fitfully behind; the two fighters unleashed a small hail of carpet bombs to open it up for the Spartan before swooping away to get out of range.

Fred climbed his way up the bomb and laid his hand over the interface, letting Cortana restart the countdown. When the display started flashing, he knew it was primed, and he pushed off of it, using the forward momentum to glide through the hole the Longswords had made for them.

The Covenant warship exploded in plumes of silver-white flame as gravity pulled them towards Earth.

* * *

There was a heavy clang of metal on metal somewhere overhead, making both Johnson and Miranda look up. "For a brick, he flew pretty good," the former commented, making the latter smile.

"Chief, get inside, gear up. We're taking this fight to the surface."

* * *

_In Amber Clad_ followed the remaining carrier into Earth's atmosphere and held position outside of the city of New Mombasa, out of range of the ship's guns. But the carrier was also out of range of hers, so the Spartans launched in Pelicans toward the city. As they flew, Cortana said, "The message just repeats. Regret, regret, regret."

"_Catchy,"_ Commander Keyes replied, _"Any idea what it means?"_

Johnson promptly broke in. _"Dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!"_

"_Ooh-rah!"_

"Regret is a _name_, Sergeant," Cortana replied, "the name of one of the Covenant's religious leaders, a Prophet. He's on that carrier, and he's _calling for help_."

That made Blue Team straighten. They remembered what Cortana had said on the _Cairo_; how had she known it was the Prophet of Regret? Surely he hadn't begun broadcasting for help _that_ quickly?

One of the sniper scout teams hailed for the attention of the Pelicans as they flew by, preparing for insertion. _"Immediate, grid Kilo-Two-Three is hot. Recommend mission abort."_

"_Roger, recon,"_ said the Pelican's pilot, _"It's your call, Sarge."_

Johnson was silent for a moment, then said, _"We're going in. Get tactical, Marines!"_

"_Blue Team, get aboard that carrier, secure the Prophet of Regret,"_ Lord Hood ordered as the Spartans checked their gear, _"This is the only place on Earth the Covenant decided to land, and that Prophet is going to tell us why."_

"_Thirty seconds out, stand by to - whoa."_

An immense, four-legged Covenant machine dominated the skyline, turning on its pedes to face them. Its body was a bright violet, but the gun at its front glowed a livid green as it charged. One of its pedes crushed a car on the highway as it got into position, protective flaps folding away from the muzzle as the power built. It fired a long stream of plasma at the Pelicans, and one took a direct hit, exploding and going down immediately. The Scarab's upper turret fired on the remaining Pelicans, and theirs spun out of control and went skidding across a rooftop before tumbling into a courtyard, knocking everyone out at once.

* * *

"Hey." Cortana played a "tapping on glass" sound. "Wake up. _Rise, organics. Fire, foes, awake!_"

Fred shook his head to clear it, then pushed himself up to his knees and glanced around. All the Spartans were stirring as well, and most of the Marines had made it, including Johnson. He found his weapons in the wreckage and got to his feet, the rest of Blue Team with him as they headed through a doorway in front of them. They took point of the survivors, and Kelly killed a Grunt in the next room before he could call for help.

They emerged in a courtyard beyond and took cover behind some raised plant beds, peeking over the tops and firing on the Jackals on the far side and the Grunts trying to hide behind wrecked pillars. They fell and let the group keep moving, the Spartans thundering up a set of stairs to the upper level of a mostly intact building. There had been some defenders there prior to their arrival, going by the machine gun turret and abandoned human weapons; no doubt they had been slain by the Elite and Grunts that came to greet them.

They got into position to defend themselves just in time. More Covenant emerged from an alley down the street and began firing on them, but the humans had the advantage of cover and high ground and used both to the fullest. A brave Elite fired on them from a building across the way, but that made him even more of a target for Linda; she also sniped the leader of another troop of aliens that emerged from an alley, sending the Grunts into fits of terror.

Some Jackals were dropped in behind them, following their path into the courtyard. A perfectly thrown grenade killed one pair and toppled a cargo module to kill another pair. Only one was left, and it and the Sangheili squad leader couldn't put up much of a fight against four Spartans and half a dozen Marines. Drones flew over the rooftops and met the same fate as all the others before them. More Jackals followed, along with a drop from a Phantom, but they weren't any more of a match for the humans than the rest.

Then a Pelican arrived. _"My girl's a little big for that courtyard, Sergeant, but I see a good LZ on the other side of these buildings. Meet you there, over."_

"Copy that," Johnson answered, "Someone get a satchel on the gate."

Blue Team jumped down from building and took cover behind the cargo modules, all guns trained on the gate. They hadn't survived this long by assuming that there wouldn't be hostiles in a combat zone.

Justified; before any of the Marines could even approach the barricade with explosives, the doors shuddered under a metal on metal impact from the other side. There was a second impact, and then the doors burst open on the third, releasing a pair of Hunters into the courtyard.

Fred signaled, and the Spartan team split into two groups of two to deal with them, the Marines providing support where they could. The "rabbits" baited the Hunters into charging, exposing their unarmored backs to the shooters, and when the blue-armored behemoths were dead, the humans headed through the gate that they had so kindly opened for them.

As they walked, Cortana opened a COM channel. "Second squad, this is Cortana. What's your status? Over."

"_We're operational, ma'am, barely. Our pilot didn't make it."_

"Find a hole, stay put. We'll come to you."

The squad leader confirmed the order and snapped off.

Blue Team took point again and followed the wreckage of the Hunters' passage to a small open area between buildings. A cadre of Jackals was holding it for the Covenant, though not for long; Linda got the Jackal with the beam rifle right between the eyes, letting them continue their advance and eliminate the rest. Once they were down, a Pelican came in to set down some more soldiers.

"_Sergeant,"_ Keyes came over the COM, _"I need you on that bird."_

"Ma'am?"

"_My Pelicans are going to start airlifting armor and reinforcements into the city. They'll need an escort that isn't afraid of a little hostile ground fire."_

"Understood, I'll keep an eye on them. Blue Team, good luck." Johnson hopped up into the Pelican, and it took off, heading back toward _In Amber Clad_.

The four warriors and their Marines continued forward and paused at the edge of what looked to be a market now crawling with aliens. There was little cover out in the market itself with tall buildings on most sides; the perfect set up for a sniper alley if ever they saw one. More Jackals with beam rifles were taking cover in the still-glowing hot levels of a building on the far side, probably damaged by the Scarab. Linda took a knee and nailed them all, letting the humans move up to take out the others without fear of snipers.

They hit a snag when more Drones came up over the rooftops; they lost two Marines to plasma fire. But the Spartans and the survivors took them down, too, and split up to go down two parallel alleys. They met up at the other end and slew the enemy squads they found there, and looped around the side of another building to find the hotel where the second squad had taken cover. They fought their way through the Covenant laying siege and met up with the Marines.

"Spartans, glad you could make it!" the squad leader, one Sergeant Stacker, called to them, "Crash site's on the other side of this hotel; Covenant are crawling all over it. Follow me."

The power seemed to have been knocked out; the halls through the hotel were nearly pitch black. The Spartans could still see, however, and followed Stacker through to the other side, where the glow of plasma fire alerted them to the presence of the Covenant. They ducked into the hall alcoves and peered out with grenades in hand.

Two Elites entered the hall from the far end, Grunts trailing after them. They had their plasma rifles in hand but didn't seem fully alert, like they thought they had already eliminated all the resistance in the area.

A fatal mistake. The first grenade stuck to one of the Elites' helmets and blew him apart. The second killed half the Grunts and sent the surviving Sangheili staggering forward into Sam's grip. He snapped its neck, then lifted his assault rifle to fire on the surviving Unggoy.

Once they were out behind the hotel, they saw the Pelican's crash site - and so did a Phantom, apparently, because it dropped its soldiers on a nearby platform before soaring off. The Spartans fought them, too, and two Warthogs sped up just in time to gun down the last few before the Marines hopped out to let the Spartans take over.

They sped off down the beach, Cortana talking over TEAMCOM. "The highest concentration of Covenant troops is directly below the carrier. I don't think they want you to get onboard. That bridge is the most direct route to the city center."

Some bright spark of an alien had set up a small anti-air turret just around the corner. The Spartans didn't have time to actually go through and kill all the aliens, but they did make it a point to fire on them as they passed until they went around a bend. There, there was another anti-air gun set up, this one three Ghosts guarding it, and Sam and Kelly made a greater effort to take them out; if their plasma fire hit the right spot, it would kill the 'Hogs.

The made it through and followed the curve of the beach over a concrete divider - and plunged right into a fight between the UNSC and the Covenant. This time they slowed to help, and eliminated the aliens in the area. As a result, they were able to stock up on ammo, not just for themselves, but also for the LAAGs; the Marines had some extra boxes of ammo, but nothing to use it with.

Something - mostly likely the Scarab - had blown open the side of the highway tunnel, and the Spartans used it to enter the tunnel, leading the way for the Marines who'd followed them after taking control of the unoccupied Ghosts they'd left in their wake. "This tunnel links up with the bridge," Cortana informed them, "It's full of rats, if you know what I mean, but it beats swimming."

They followed the tunnel, weaving around sealed doors and blocked passages, as the AI continued, "I've been analyzing the Covenant tactical chatter."

"Still broadcasting on unencrypted channels?" Linda asked.

"A fair bit of it, though not all. _Dumb apes._ But more important is this: they're surprised, confused. I don't think they expected us to be here. Not you all and me; _all_ of us. _Humanity_ on _Earth_. Odd, I know, but it does help explain why they came here with such a small fleet."

"I thought the Covenant knew Earth's location?" Sam said, gunning at Drones that swarmed into the tunnel.

"They _do_."

"Then what the hell was all that with the _Unyielding Hierophant_ if not an invasion fleet?"

"And _that's_ what makes it all the more intriguing. We'll need to capture Regret if we want the answers to our questions."

The Covenant had moved some road barricades in an attempt to block the path, but the Spartans mowed through the opposition like always.

They seemed to have been keeping pace with the Scarab; it blasted a Warthog through a pre-existing hole in the roof right as they passed by below. They felt the wash of heat even through their armor, and Kelly looked up to see the machine walk over the hole, blocking the smoky sunlight with its bulk.

The sound of an engine came down one of the highway entrance ramps. Both turrets swung around, thumbs hovering over the triggers, but they relaxed without firing when Gray Team came skidding onto the main thoroughfare in a Warthog of their own. Mike was driving, and Jai was in the passenger seat, with Adriana on the turret. All of them snapped off Spartan smiles to each other continued together down the highway, firing at the Covenant they came across, including a convoy of Type-29 Shadows.

"The Covenant must be trying to regroup," Cortana said over TEAMCOM, "_Don't_ let them."

Though the Spartans didn't manage to destroy all of the Shadows, but they did significant damage to most of the convoy by the time they pulled ahead. The two teams continued up through the tunnel and out onto the bridge leading to the city center. There the Spartans dismounted and approached the two surviving Marines posted at the entrance. One of them was on the ground panting, but the other was glaring at the retreating Scarab. "It blew right through us," she told them, "Fifty-cal, rockets, didn't do a thing."

The roar of a Pelican's engines made them look up. It swooped slowly overhead, heavily laden with a Scorpion tank, but its engines were more than equal to the task. It dropped the tank off, and Johnson jumped down from the troop bay. "Where's the rest of your platoon?" the man asked the other Marines.

"Wasted, Sarge," the female Marine answered.

"And we will be too, sir, if we don't get the hell out of here!" The second Marine staggered to his feet and turned to hop into the Pelican.

Johnson grabbed him by the shoulder. "You hit, Marine?"

It was a metaphorical question, but the Marine answered anyway. "N-no, sir."

"Then listen up! Usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways, but _not today_. This here is sixty-six tons of straight up H-E spewing _divine intervention_! If God is love, then you can call me Cupid!"

Cortana rolled her eyes with a smile inside Fred's armor.

"What about that Scarab?"

"We've all run the simulations; they're tough, but they _ain't_ invincible. Stick with the Spartans; they'll know what to do."

"Yessir, Sergeant!"

"_Thanks for the tank,"_ Cortana said over Fred's speakers, _"_They_ never get me anything."_

Johnson jumped back into the Pelican and cycled a round into the chain gun mounted there. "Oh, I know what the ladies like."

* * *

Gray Team hooked their Warthog up to the Pelican, then mounted up on the side panels of the tank as the bird flew away. Fred climbed into the Scorpion and started her up, letting the female Marine take over driving the Warthog he'd shared with Kelly. The male Marine piled into the passenger seat; Linda and Sam remained on their Warthog.

Almost immediately, they all encountered resistance from the Covenant holding the bridge. A wave of Ghosts rolled forward, the Sangheili driving them eager for the glory of killing one of the Demons. Fred began launching shells at them the moment they came in range, and Gray Team used targeting rocket launchers if by chance they got too close.

The tank and its escorts wove through the wreckage of vehicles and barricades that the Scarab had left behind, wiping out the Covenant who tried to stop them - like the Wraith at the bridge's summit. Its plasma bombs missed them by a metaphorical mile; the Scorpion may have been barely faster than a walking pace, but it was still faster than the Wraith's bombs could reach them.

The Warthogs raced ahead to harry the Wraith while the Scorpion closed with it. When Fred judged he was close enough, he took aim and put a round straight through the machine, blowing it to pieces. They reached the apex not too long after and started down the other side, and their altitude gave them a spectacular yet saddening view of New Mombasa burning below Regret's carrier.

They swerved to avoid another hole in the road just as a Phantom raced by overhead, firing on them as it went. Not too long after, some Marines who had been hiding on the bridge broke cover and raced to join them, one hopping on the remaining tank panel and the other jumping into Sam and Linda's empty seat.

As they did that, a second Phantom slowed next to the bridge to begin firing at them. Fred put a few shells into its armor, sent it on its way, only to have some Banshees fall in behind. The Chief shot them down even as a _third_ Phantom cruised by, firing a few salvos on its way. 'They're regrouping, just like Cortana said,' Fred thought as he watched them go.

Then he turned the Scorpion's gun on the Ghosts skittering around at the base of the bridge. The slugs nearly pulverized the vehicles and sent them spinning end over end. Then more Banshees came in over the rooftops, and all of them turned their weapons on the fighters before they could start dropping fuel rod rounds on them.

More Ghosts were hovering inside the toll station before the next stretch of tunnel. One avoided the shell that Fred launched at it, but not Mike's rocket, and Adriana got the other. They swept the area twice before Fred turned off the tank - but before they could dismount, a rising hum let them know that something wasn't right.

The engine turned over again just in time. Two Wraiths emerged from the tunnel and started throwing plasma bombs their way, and the Warthogs raced in to give them cover, the LAAGs firing for the reactor covers on the backs of the enemy vehicles. Even though there were two Wraiths, they weren't enough to stop the Spartans and had to turn their backs on _someone_, who promptly took advantage.

Rather than risk another incident like that, Fred said, "Fuck it," and drove the tank down the tunnel, firing round after round into the Covenant that they came across. The muzzle flash of the tank and the LAAGs played havoc with their vision in the dim light, but they still blew through the opposition, another LRV jolting down another entrance ramp to join their convoy along the way.

At the far end, there was a raised barrier in the road, forcing them all to dismount and continue on foot. The Jackals in their way were clear to see, their shields like beacons in the semidarkness, and the Spartans gunned them and everything else down, then continued through a maintenance access way and up a pipe into another courtyard.

The Scarab was still ahead of them, stamping its way deeper into the city. Fred gritted his teeth; they were always either level with it or behind, never a step ahead. He took his brief burst of frustration out on the Jackal perched on the earthen embankment ringing the courtyard. Then they all headed for the large platform at the center, using it as cover while they got down to the floor.

Sergeant Stacker came back into view at the wheel of a Warthog with a Gauss cannon. "Could use someone on the gun!" he called, and came skidding to a stop next to them.

Kelly and Linda jumped on, passenger seat and gunner turret respectively, and the Warthog took off again. Within a few passes, they took care of the plasma turrets and beam rifles, leaving the Elites for their other siblings as they went ahead to clear the way.

A pair of Ghosts slipped in just as the Warthog went out, and Sam and Fred hijacked these instead of destroying them. They escorted the Marines and remaining Spartans into the next area, where there were more Ghosts waiting, along with a Wraith being targeted by the Gauss Warthog. Gray Team took the Ghosts, and together with the others, they destroyed the Wraith.

Once it was down, they continued escorting the Marines through the city, fighting their way through more Covenant to a city center of sorts, where a handful of Ghosts and three Wraiths were bombarding a skyscraper. "There are a number of Marines trapped in that building," Cortana informed them, "Concentrate fire on the Wraiths; they're the biggest threat."

The Spartans did as she advised, even as another Phantom swooped overhead and dropped off still more Ghosts. It wasn't enough to stop them; they smashed through the Covenant blockade, then dismounted and approached the building they had been attacking.

The doors slid open to admit them when all of them walked up with their Marine platoon. One of the Marines from inside stepped forward to meet them. "Sir! Corporal Perez, A Company! CP's this way. The Lieutenant got hit as soon as we dropped in."

A Pelican dropped off a Scorpion on the road behind them. Several of their Marines took up positions guarding the door, but the Spartans kept moving. Cortana asked, "Who's in charge now, Corporal?"

"Uh, Sergeant Banks, ma'am; he's pinned down up top. Come on, I'll show you." He turned and led them up a heavily guarded flight of stairs. Just as they reached the top, a beam of plasma lanced across the far side of the city center to scythe through the buildings there.

The doors slid open. Sergeant Banks turned to see who had arrived - and blinked, eyebrows climbing toward his hairline. "When I asked for reinforcements, I didn't think they'd send a Spartan, much less _seven_." The Scarab rounded the corner and caught the man's attention again. "We got trouble."

The Scarab fired its main cannon at the Scorpion and blew it apart in only a few seconds, superheated metal flying dozens of meters.

Somewhere behind them, someone yelped, "See this look? It's _terror_!"

"Marine, did I give you permission to bitch?!" the sergeant barked at him.

The Scarab walked forward, completely ignoring the other vehicles and people firing at it - and even walking right through an elevated sidewalk in the center of the thoroughfare.

"I don't think it's stopping! Get your heads down!" Banks called, and just in time. The massive machine planted its front pedes on the roof one at a time, then climbed up over them and kept moving. "That thing is really starting to _PISS ME OFF!_ Marines, time to kill us a Scarab!"

The Spartans followed the Scarab on foot, up across the rooftop and through a warehouse before arriving on a series of walkways across a canal. The area seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry; there were weapons and cargo modules scattered across the walkways. They picked up extra ammo - especially the heavy weapons - and ran after the Scarab, rocket launchers locking on to the Covenant soldiers that appeared on its top.

When it reached the end of the canal and tried and failed to climb out, Gray Team was finally able to jump down onto it and get inside. There, there was a squad of SpecOps guarding the pilots. As quietly as possible, all three Spartans brought their launchers to bear on the aliens, then let the rockets fly, moving backwards to better protect themselves from the detonations. The Scarab pilots staggered as well, then turned on the three Spartans, but they fell too.

* * *

Small explosions rippled the length of the Scarab, and it sagged on its pedes, venting smoke into the already smog-filled skies. Gray Team emerged from within, their shields shimmering but their armor undamaged, and they saluted Blue Team, who returned the gesture.

Over the buildings beyond, they saw the gravity lift into Regret's carrier flicker off, the ship preparing to depart. _"That's right you mothers!"_ Johnson roared over the COM, _"Run!"_

"_Not if we can help it, Sergeant. Extract the Spartans and return to _In Amber Clad_,"_ Commander Keyes responded.

"_Roger that."_ His Pelican descended and turned to open its troop bay for the Spartans and Marines.

On the bridge of the frigate in question, Miranda switched her vidCOM screen to Lord Hood. _"Status!"_ he barked.

"The Prophet is bugging out, sir; request permission to engage!"

"_Negative, Commander. I'll vector two heavies for star-side intercept."_

But that was before one of Keyes's nav officers signaled for their attention. "Ma'am, Slipspace rupture off the target's bow; it's going to jump - _inside_ the city!"

He was right. The carrier was pushing forward, ripples of light cascading over its curved hull.

Both officers' eyes widened, then Miranda turned back to Hood. "There's no time, sir!"

"_Green light!"_ the man answered, _"Green light to engage!"_

At the same moment, Johnson's Pelican docked with the ship. Once she had confirmation of it, Keyes said, "_Punch it_, get us close!"

The whole ship shuddered as the frigate's engines screamed up to maximum speed. "Ma'am," said the nav officer, hanging on to his station, "without a destination solution-"

"We are _not_ losing that ship!"

_In Amber Clad_ streaked for Regret's carrier - and plunged into its Slipspace portal right before it closed.


	13. Eleven: Silver Emergence

A/N: Thank you for patience and kind words. His name was Indiana Jones and he was an old man so we knew it was coming, but that never makes it any easier. I'll post another chapter tomorrow to make up for last week.

* * *

Eleven: Silver Emergence

* * *

The _In Amber Clad_ arrived at the Coelest system alongside Regret's carrier, dropping out of Slipspace with a sharp jolt and sending crewmen flying if they weren't strapped in. "Report!" Miranda called once she recovered.

"Both engine cores have spun to zero," one of the bridge officers answered, "We're drifting."

"Archer pods are cold," another said, "I'll need to re-key the system."

"Do it," she ordered, "and find out where we are."

Inside one of the ships' troop bays, the Spartans were doing quick checks of their drop pods. Only Blue and Gray Teams had made it onboard before the jump; the rest of them were still on Earth or elsewhere in the colonies. They were just finishing up when Miranda came over the COM. _"Sorry for the quick jump, Sergeant,"_ she said to Johnson, who was in another pod next to them, _"Are you still in one piece?"_

"_I'm good,"_ the man answered, _"Spartans?"_

"_We're_ fine," Cortana replied. She was monitoring their biosigns; none of them had received so much as a bruise from the sudden deceleration.

If there was any response from any other parties, it was cut off when one of the bridge officers hailed for all of their attention. "Ma'am, there's an object, coming into view now."

She inhaled sharply, then routed the image down to them. "Cortana, what exactly am I looking at?"

Once the ship cleared the New Mombasa debris field, the AI didn't even need more than a second to confirm. "_That_ is another Halo."

Johnson choked. _"Say WHAT?!"_

Almost to herself, Commander Keyes said, _"So this is what my father found."_ Then, louder, _"I thought Halo was some kind of super weapon."_

"It is. If activated, this ring will cause destruction on a galactic scale." She had already prepared a briefing for the woman before she even asked for it, and routed it up before taking the extra time to subtly ping the area.

Another one of the fleet's ancillae, Shadow of All Night Falling (or Shadowfall for short), responded softly from under the surface of one of the ring's oceans.

"_Where's our target?"_

"_The enemy ship is stopped just above the ring, ma'am. We're going to pass right over it."_

"_Perfect. Given what we know about this ring, it's even more important that we capture the Prophet of Regret, find out why he came to Earth, why he came here. Chief, take first platoon; hard drop, secure our landing zone."_

The Spartan flashed an acknowledgement.

"_Sergeant, load up two flights of Pelicans and follow them in."_

"_Aye aye, ma'am."_

"_Until I can move and fight, I'm going to keep a low profile. Once you leave the ship, you're on your own."_

Johnson banged twice on Fred's pod as he passed by, and the Spartan hit back, answering "Understood," to the commander.

"Hang on to your helmet," Cortana advised, right before they were jolted again, gentler, their drop pod released and sliding free of _In Amber Clad_. Fred's sharp ears picked up the sounds of other pods sliding free of the ship before they dropped out of range, aiming for the ring below. The pod's onboard computer automatically tracked his descent and the other pods with him - four Spartans and half a dozen ODSTs.

The airbrakes snapped open, right before the braking thrusters fired, and one of Cortana's personality spikes hissed, _"Ready yourselves, organics."_

They hid the ground with bone-jarring thuds. Even Fred was stunned for a second, but then he kicked his pod open, SMG in hand. There were two plasma turrets that they needed to take out, and he grabbed his rocket launcher before moving into cover, one of the Helljumpers right behind him. The ODST covered him while he drew a line on one of the turrets, then fired and destroyed it and the gunner with it. Then he turned to the one atop the Forerunner ruins nearby - he hadn't been aware the Forerunners built in stone - and fired another rocket to destroy that turret as well.

As he reloaded, he heard one of the other ODSTs, probably their squad leader, shout, "Clear this LZ; the Pelicans are right behind us!"

Fred climbed the embankment and took cover behind one of the drop pods, firing on a pair of Jackals. The rest of Blue Team was on the far side of the ridge, going after a cluster of Jackals and Grunts with their combat knives rather than wasting ammo. When all local nonhumans were dead, they moved up through a narrow gulch cut by flash flooding over a hundred thousand years, and then into the ruins themselves. They caught the Grunts hiding inside by surprise, but the Elites were a bit more of a challenge - though not so great that they weren't killed.

Fred and Sam cleared the upstairs of the two aliens there, then Cortana said, "Artillery disabled, Sergeant. Landing zone secure, for the moment."

"_I hear ya,"_ was the reply, _"Startin' our approach, hang tight."_

Cortana closed the COM channel, continuing, "Easier said than done. Inbound Phantoms!"

Fred took up a position on the second floor, while Linda climbed up onto the roof and concealed herself in the branches of a tree with a captured beam rifle. Kelly and Sam arrayed themselves in front of the structure while the ODSTs took cover inside.

They were just in time. The Phantoms arrived right as they finished getting into position, and both fired on them as they dropped their loads of troops. Mostly Jackals from the first, and two Elites and their cadre of Grunts from the second; most of them were dead before the Phantoms had even departed.

There was another one right behind them, but Cortana was confident in their skills; the Spartans and ODSTs wouldn't have survived this long if they couldn't defend themselves adequately. There were three Elites this time, and more Grunts than Jackals, but even so, that didn't mean they were able to put up much of a fight, especially not against _four_ of the "Demons." The last one fell just as the AI spotted the Pelicans on approach.

Both of the birds carried reinforcements, but only one had a Warthog; there hadn't exactly been time to load up _In Amber Clad_ before they raced after Regret's carrier. But Kelly's speed and endurance meant that she could keep up with the Warthog in the way others could not, so when she gestured to herself, Fred nodded his permission. The other three gathered up as Johnson spoke, _"I got a good view comin' in. There's a big building in the middle of this island's lake."_

"I saw it too," Cortana agreed, "It looked like a temple - or what the Covenant would call one, anyway. If I were a megalomaniac - and I'm not - _yet_ \- that's where I'd be."

Someone let out a bark of laughter, but it quickly became a cough.

The Warthog landed with a bounce, and the three Spartans piled in, Kelly already running ahead. The ODSTs that dropped in with them would stay behind to cover their backs and prevent any aliens from using the promontory as a drop zone. If any of them were jealous or resentful of the Spartans, they said nothing about it.

Beyond a short and narrow canyon was a massive lake. There were a handful of ancient stone structures jutting up out of the water, including the "temple" Cortana had identified, and the rock walls ringing it were nearly sheer, weathered and gray, with the occasional stubby plant growing here and there.

Fred gunned the LRV through a tight curve and off a low ridge, catching the attention of the Jackals assigned to guard it. Linda put them down with the turret, even as one of the ODSTs came over SQUADCOM: _"Dear Sarge, kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here."_

"_I heard that. Jackass."_

Blue Team allowed themselves a brief roll of the eyes before returning to work. They followed the path along the edge of a cliff, arriving at a large structure on their side of a gulf, some kind of segmented bridge and its control center. The Covenant were already there, of course, and greeted them with plasma fire; a Sangheili took control of a Ghost and skittered their way while two Unggoy manned plasma turrets.

Kelly darted over to another Ghost that sat unmanned, claimed it for her own, and went after the Elite. Fred chose to run down a pair of Jackals that had exited the structure right in the Warthog's path and spun the wheel sharply to bring them around before they could careen off the edge and into the gulf. They bounced over part of the retracted bridge and swung around again to support Kelly against the Elite.

"They're trying to bottle us up on this side of the gorge. The controls for extending the bridge should be here." The AI put up a nav point and let them have at it, turning her attention back to the fleet.

'John?'

[I'm here.]

She let out a soft sigh. He couldn't meet her as he had on the _Justice_ \- Fred's armor couldn't handle it - but he still reached out and touched her, making an effort to be gentle. If she could have, she would have gone to him in an instant, buried herself in him and all the data he could give her, all the information and history and sense memories from a hundred thousand years of wandering.

But she couldn't. Her place was here, for the moment. 'I miss you,' she whispered.

As before, they both understood the many layers in those three words. [I miss you, too.]

Her awareness of him dimmed for a moment before it returned. [I need to go. We're trying to contain the enemy Gravemind, hoping it'll save us a few lives.]

'Good luck,' she said, 'not that you _need_ it.'

She sensed him grin, and then he vanished. She returned her attention to Blue Team, who had just activated the bridge controls. "Good, the bridge is down. Now about those Wraiths…"

Johnson said that a tank was en route. Using the bridge control tower as cover, a Pelican dropped off a Scorpion for them, then headed out across the lake. Rather than put all their eggs in one basket, Sam, Linda, and Kelly stayed in their vehicles, while Fred alone took the tank. It gave them the advantage of numbers against the Wraiths and let them kill the enemy machines and their pilots.

A handful of Ghosts came out of a tunnel to take their places, but with the faster vehicles as a distraction, Fred was able to take them out of commission with the Scorpion. They headed through the tunnel the Ghosts had come from and behind a small waterfall. When they emerged, they encountered another Ghost and a plasma turret, but it wasn't enough to stop them.

"You'd think they would have learned by now that to take out even _one_ Spartan, they need to _concentrate_ their forces," Cortana said as they entered another tunnel.

"Luckily for us, they have not," said Sam.

The tunnel opened up into what had once been a courtyard with a fountain at the center. Time had turned it into a ruin, thrown down by storms and ripped up by roots and almost completely overgrown, like the Ta Prohm Temple on Earth. If it had any major significance, the Spartans gave it no mind, concerning themselves with the Covenant holding it - though only for long enough to kill them and make sure they were dead.

Yet as they crossed the now-empty courtyard, a ship hummed quietly past overhead, but when they looked, they saw nothing, not even the slightest shimmer of active camouflage. "Cortana...?" Fred began.

"Sound pattern doesn't match any known Covenant ships. Looks like there just might be someone else here with us."

"Friendly?"

"Unknown. They didn't shoot at us as they passed, but they might not have known we were here."

"Unlikely," said Linda.

"Agreed. _You have been making quite a bit of noise. It is unseemly._ I would say _most likely_ friendly, or at least _not an enemy_."

They hesitated for only a few moments, then kept moving through the complex, trundling down a few levels and encountering more Covenant along the way. They emerged into sunlight and saw another section of the complex before them, smaller than the previous area - too small for the tank, or even the Ghost. They still stayed in their vehicles to clear the exterior of the structure, circling around until they couldn't go any further.

The aliens had set up plasma barriers to block the approach, but the situation had suddenly become more urgent; Linda's sharp eyes had spotted a Pelican inbound. The Spartans moved quickly to pitch grenades over the shields, driving the aliens out of cover to be gunned down.

The Pelican swooped overhead. _"Hey, Blue Team, long time no see! Got some weapons and reinforcements for ya!"_

"Foehammer!" Cortana cried in delight, "It's good to hear from you - we didn't know you were here with us!"

The pilot laughed and swung her bird around to drop off the promised weapons canisters and personnel. _"Yep, back in action and better than ever! You always seem to stumble into some interesting places, and I'm along for the ride once again."_

"Here's hoping your Pelican survives this time."

"_Amen to that. Good hunting."_ She closed up and soared off.

More Covenant emerged from the structure, and the Marines moved in while Blue Team traded out weapons and stocked up on ammunition. When they were all together again, they advanced into the structure, taking cover behind ruined pillars while they engaged the aliens there. When they were dead, the humans moved quickly under a slab of rock that looked like one stiff breeze would send it crashing to the ground.

Then they sidled through a crevice in the rock face beyond and found themselves up to their knees in a small stream. Dead ahead was another rock face, and to the left and right were waterfalls, one going up and the other going down. They turned to their left, and Kelly darted forward to snap the neck of the patrolling Jackal before he could turn around and notice them.

A quick terrain assessment revealed another small but equally overgrown ruin below, filled with only a few aliens. Kelly took up the fallen Jackal's beam rifle and joined Linda in picking off as many foes as they could while the boys descended with the Marines to mop up the rest of them or drive them out of cover for the girls to shoot.

When all the aliens were dead, they all descended and crossed the gulch, passed through another tunnel and into another narrow canyon. On the other side was another Forerunner complex - impressive, although not the one where Regret was hiding. Still, they were on the right track, and the Drones who came out to fight them proved it. As they descended toward the complex, Cortana said, "Good. Still no word about _In Amber Clad_ on the Covenant battlenet. Still, it's odd; they know we've made landfall, but they don't seem to consider us a very serious threat. Boy, are they in for a big surprise. _They'll regret that too._"

As they approached the complex, Linda and Kelly started sniping the Jackals on the roofs and the Elites further inside; it would make progress through those areas easier once the humans actually reached them. Another Marine with a sniper rifle proved to be a decent hand in that area, adding his fire to the lot before they entered the structure.

The door slid open in front of them, and their motion trackers showed enemy contacts not too far ahead. "Honor Guard," said Cortana, "Watch yourselves."

They were unsure how she knew, but they took her advice just the same, boosting their shields and prepping a handful of grenades. And she was right; there were four Sangheili Honor Guards protecting a hologram of Regret intoning some sort of liturgy in the Covenant language, one on either side of the image and the others up on the second level on either side. Linda killed one of them before they recovered from the sight of the Demons, and the others roared and drew their plasma swords.

The Spartans threw their primed plasma grenades, pausing only long enough to make sure that they had stuck their targets, before they fled back through the door at top speed. They gave it a few seconds after the detonation before returning to put down any survivors.

Yet as they made to keep moving past the hologram, Cortana said, "Wait, go back."

Fred laid his hand on an input so the AI could sort herself in. Her crimson form appeared on another, smaller holoemitter. "That's what I _thought_ he said." She turned to the Spartans. "The Prophet of Regret is planning to activate Halo."

All the Spartans inhaled. Fred said, "Are you sure?"

Cortana snapped her fingers.

"I shall light this holy ring, release its cleansing flame, and burn a path into the Divine Beyond!"

She snapped again to shut him up. "Pretty much," she replied.

The Master Chief opened a COM channel. "Commander, we've got a problem."

"_So I hear,"_ was the reply, _"but from what I understand, the Prophet will need an object – the Index – to activate the ring. I've located a Library similar to the one you found on the first Halo. If the rings work the same way, the Index should be inside."_

"_I'll bet the Covenant are thinking the exact same thing,"_ Johnson broke into the channel.

"_Then we'd better beat them to it, Sergeant. Extract your men and meet me at the Library."_

"_Yes, ma'am."_

"_I'll secure the Index, Senior Chief," _Miranda said as the Spartan reclaimed the AI, _"You take out the Prophet. He's given us all the intel we need."_


	14. Twelve: The Devils' Victory Song

Twelve: The Devils' Victory Song

* * *

The Spartans didn't waste any more time. They didn't know exactly where this Halo was in relation to Earth, but either way if fired, it would devastate a significant section of the galaxy. They headed for a door set in one of the walls, which hissed open at their approach - right as a cluster of Drones dropped in through the ceiling and an Elite charged them through the door.

The Spartans moved to protect the Marines from the Sangheili, leaving the Drones to them for the time being, but once the alien went down, they turned back and took over, covering the Marines as they scuttled through the door. When the last of them went down, the warriors followed.

"You know," Cortana said as they passed through the hatch, "I think the Forerunners built these new structures around the old to protect them, honor them. Pure speculation, mind you; I'd need to make a thorough survey to be sure…" 'Or I could just ask a certain eavesdropper.'

[They're from Ghibalb. The ruins, they're originally from the Forerunners' homeworld of Ghibalb. An early stellar engineering accident left the whole system irradiated and uninhabitable, but later they went back and transplanted some of their old ruins here and covered them with the same style of building to absorb the radiation. There are a few complexes on each of the rings and even the Ark; some of the more _sentimental_ Forerunners wanted to "take their ancestors with them into the stars". Even after everything that happened, the Master Builder kept up the tradition.]

'That's almost sweet.'

John hummed noncommittally.

The Spartans emerged onto something like a wrap-around porch, where wide bridges extended out to connect to other structures. One of them had collapsed, so they took the other, which was guarded by an Elite and some Grunts. The cowardly aliens had bunched up, so Linda launched a frag grenade at them. The rest of the Spartans focused their fire on the remaining alien, then all of them advanced along the bridge.

An Elite Minor charged them, wielding a plasma sword, and Fred dodged out of the way just enough to avoid the arc of the white-hot blade, then punched the alien in the face. It hadn't been expecting it and staggered under the blow, letting Kelly get in behind it and shove her combat knife up into its spine. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Water from a recent storm had pooled in the center of the bridge, and they splashed through it, following a Jackal and a line of Grunts back to their source. There was another doorway there, guarded by an Elite, though not for long. They entered the building and followed a short hall to a circular courtyard. The roof had long since fallen in, leaving the courtyard open to the sky, pillars of stone lining the walkway ringing the edge. The place was filled with more Jackals and Grunts, but their fear of the Demons was potent enough that even their leader's courage couldn't overcome it - especially not after the Demons killed him. Most ran, and were shot in the back for their troubles.

The humans followed the walkway around the edge of the room, heading through an arch into something they could only describe as a locker room. The Spartans exchanged glances, then kept moving through a concealed door that opened up nearby.

The door revealed another walkway around the outside of the building, which in turn led them to an open platform. There were raised portions ringing the small center structure, almost like the seats of an amphitheater. There were some Jackals there, but the bird-like aliens were hardly a challenge.

But someone somewhere seemed to have called for reinforcements, because a Phantom approached and dropped off a pair of Hunters. Fred immediately ordered the Marines to take cover, and they obeyed even as the Mgalekgolo charged the Spartans, swinging their massive shields.

Kelly raced forward to be the rabbit, getting the Hunters to pursue her. But because she was their sole focus, she couldn't really shoot back when they fired their fuel rod cannons at her, instead relying on her siblings to gun them down - which they did.

They only lost one Marine in the firefight; he wasn't fast enough to get away from one of the Hunters, which swatted him with its massive shield. His squad mates collected his dog tags as Miranda came over the line. _"Cortana, the Covenant's getting nosy. I don't want to give away my position, so I'm rerouting some stragglers back to you. I apologize; these Pelicans are all the support you're going to get."_

"Understood, ma'am." After the channel closed, Cortana spoke again. "A gondola's launching from the far tower. Big surprise, it's full of Covenant reinforcements."

Out on the lake, a pair of transports had been stopped, suspended over the water, but now they were moving again, one towards the station beyond, the other towards them. As it drew near, the Pelican with their reinforcements swooped in, dropped off its weapons canisters and Marines, and then rushed away right as the gondola came in range. The humans used battle rifles and sniper rifles to pick off all the Covenant they could before the transport docked.

As the clamps unfolded and locked into place, the aliens still alive came out of cover to attack, but they did no more damage to the Spartans than any of the ones that came before them.

"Well, they were nice enough to bring us a ride," Cortana said, and directed them to the gondola controls.

They started towards the "temple". Not long after, a swarm of Yam'ee buzzed over to make a nuisance of themselves. Their plasma pistols drove the Marines into cover, but the Spartans were harder to cow. As far as they knew, none of the Covenant really used their weapons to the fullest the way the humans did - never overcharged the pistols to take down energy shields in one shot, never unloaded half a clip of Needler rounds to get the simultaneous detonations that was so deadly to _everything_ \- so they had a bit of room to maneuver. Their shields held, and they gunned the bugs down.

Cortana murmured, "This lake couldn't have been formed by volcanic action. Did the Forerunners make it this way on purpose? Something from their home that they sought to emulate when they brought the ruins here? Or did something cataclysmic happen that they did not foresee?"

They ignored her in favor of the approaching second gondola. When they had launched from their side, it had left the temple - full of enemies, to no one's surprise. Yet since they were limited by their inability to fly, they were easier to dispatch than the Yam'ee, and when they were dead, their gondola resumed its course.

There were Covenant weapons emplacements close to the temple's docking station, and they started firing at the humans the moment they were in range. But they were in range as well, and what's more, they were in the open. Linda shot them all in an eyeblink, and let them disembark with ease.

The blast door in front of them slid open at their approach, letting more foes emerge from inside. All of them were Jackals, and all of them died just like those who stayed inside. They were up on crisscrossing walkways that led deeper into the building. There was also a deep shaft below, in the center of the room, plunging to the lake's surface and on down. "Ah, now I see," said Cortana, "There's a submerged section that connects these towers to the outlying structures. _We must walk this path to our foe, unless you would rather drown._"

"Full car coming up!" one of the Marines called in warning. Cortana directed the Spartans to the side with the door. When the doors slid open, knowing how resilient Forerunner technology was, Fred did the only logical thing he could: he threw a grenade into the car.

They all heaved the Jackal corpses out afterward, though there was nothing they could do about the blood smears. There wasn't enough room inside for everyone, so the Marines elected to head back and call for a Pelican to come pick them up, letting the Spartans continue on alone.

Fred activated the elevator, and the doors sealed shut before they dropped into the water below. There were lights in the dark, illuminating a hundred ruins below the surface, and even the Spartans couldn't resist peering out. As the lift continued forward, Cortana said, "I've intercepted a secure transmission from Regret's carrier to something called _High Charity_. It seems to be a formal apology to the Prophets of Truth and Mercy. Apparently, Regret jumped the gun when he attacked Earth. He's asking the other Prophets to 'forgive his premature arrival', arguing that 'no human presence was foretold'. That explains why there were so few ships in his fleet, but it's still odd that a Prophet would have such bad intel about his enemy's homeworld."

"Where are they even getting their intel, then?" Linda asked, "They don't seem to have anything like ONI if it's so bad they don't know that humanity's from Earth."

"Good question. _We would be interested to hear the answer for ourselves._"

But the Spartans noted that she did not seem surprised by the contents of the message. Perhaps it was just because she was the one who had intercepted it, but it seemed almost as if she had already known what it would say before it even arrived. Linda had asked where the Covenant was getting its intel, but now they were all interested to know where she was getting her _own_.

They didn't ask. She wouldn't have answered anyway.

The car halted below an opening identical to the one they had dropped through, and more docking clamps pulled them up into the main underwater complex. They came to a stop in a low-ceilinged room with a single exit, an intricately detailed doorway that led to a ramp up into the complex. They followed the path to a hall shaped like a triangular prism on its side, walled with transparent metal, ramps leading down to the center path from raised ones on either side. Three square, pylon-like constructs lined the center of the path.

The Spartans killed the Grunts there, who were probably supposed to be standing guard but were instead sleeping. Then they headed up the opposite ramp to the next antechamber. There were two exits from it, and the Spartans split up to cover them both. But there were no enemies, just more ramps leading up into the main hall.

It was also shaped like a horizontal triangular prism, though much, much larger than the first, with constructs of varying sizes throughout, making the hall into a labyrinth. There was also a massive hologram of Regret that earned a comment from Cortana, "And they say _I_ have a big head."

There were aliens, of course, and the Spartans took cover behind the metal constructs as fire lanced between them. The Hunters and Sangheili Honor Guard were the biggest challenges; everything else was just small potatoes in comparison.

The Spartans fought their way through the room and the one that followed, which seemed to have sprung a leak somewhere; there was about a foot and a half of water at the bottom. But beyond that room was another lift chamber, and Blue Team piled inside, hoping that this lift would take them back to the surface.

As they descended, Cortana said, "Regret's carrier just received a response from _High Charity._ A very well encrypted message from the Prophet of Truth. Listen to this: 'Your haste has jeopardized the fulfillment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design. That you shall be spared a public display of our contempt is thanks only to Mercy and his wise counsel.' Truth, Mercy, Regret. Three Prophet Hierarchs. Killing Regret should shake up the Covenant leadership, but frankly, it sounds like you might be doing Truth a favor. - _Oh my_."

The Spartans looked ahead to see a Forerunner ship resting on the lakebed. It was _huge_, easily fifty kilometers long, and it threw a wide shadow over them as they approached, its windows glowing bright in their dim surroundings. There were submersibles swarming around it - and _people_, swimmers jetting through the water, wearing metallic green and black armor in various configurations. Some of them looked to be shaped roughly like humans and at least as tall as the Spartans, others more than twice that, and a few seemed to have long necks like the Sangheili - but also long tails. Many turned to look at them as the lift passed under it through a narrow canyon cut through the lakebed.

As they glided to the other side, the ship came alive, lights flashing on its sides, a faint rising hum reaching their ears through the water. The Spartans looked back as they passed it by and saw it start to ascend, the swimmers and submersibles heading for open cargo bays protected by energy fields, more aliens in identical armor running about within.

Though difficult to make out in the dim light, the name of the ship was written on the hull in several languages - including English.

"_Ring of Winter_," Cortana said, "Interesting."

"Friend or foe?"

"Well they didn't shoot at us as we went by, so I'm going to hazard a guess and say 'friend.' Still, they might not have had enough time to respond to our approach. I guess we'll know soon enough if they decide to chase us."

The Spartans weren't looking forward to the possibility. They looked to have Forerunner-level tech, which was leaps and bounds above Covenant, which humanity as a whole was barely holding its own against. But if they pursued, the humans wouldn't go down without a fight.

Their car docked with the next tower and was pulled up into it by the docking clamps, letting them out into another room. Even through the filters in their armor, the Spartans could smell the fresh air, and they sped up a little, intent upon reaching their goal as fast as possible. Regret couldn't be _too_ far off; the Honor Guard defending the area made that readily apparent.

They emerged into the open and were immediately engaged by two Sangheili and another small swarm of Drones, which the warriors put down before topping the rise. There was another complex of ruins there, held by the Covenant, of course, though not for very much longer. Blue Team worked their way through it.

As they did so, Foehammer came over the line again. _"This is my last run, Blue Team; I'm almost out of fuel. We've secured the first tower cluster, so I'll put her down there. Call me when you're ready for evac."_

They flashed an affirmative and moved forward to meet the weapons canisters she dropped for them, and the reinforcements: Gray Team. They swiped Spartan smiles at each other right as Commander Keyes came over the line. _"How's it going, Spartans?"_

"So far so good," Cortana answered, "We're approaching the main temple now."

"_Roger that. I'm as close to the Library as I can get; there's some sort of - barrier. We're trying to find a way around it; we'll keep you posted."_

The two teams of Spartans boarded the gondola that would take them across to Regret's temple, slaying the Jackals and Grunts guarding it in the process. A pair of Banshees attempted to intercept them as they began the crossing, but Sam had picked up a heat-seeking rocket launcher and sent them both spinning toward the water below. It proved to be equally effective against the Elites with jetpacks who flew at them from the other gondola.

Linda and Jai focused on the Covenant holding the entryway to the temple, picking them off from a distance with their sniper rifles, trying to clear out as many aliens as they could before they actually arrived there. Most of them were dead by the time the gondola rolled up and docked. The Spartans stepped off-

-and heard the snap-bang of a Slipspace rupture high overhead. They looked up.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand - it was impossible to count the number of ships that emerged over the ring, followed closely by a huge construct that looked vaguely like a jellyfish with a single long tentacle.

"That's the largest Covenant fleet I've ever seen," Cortana whispered in amazement, "the largest _anyone's_ ever seen. Get inside the temple and kill Regret before it can stop us. _Run, organics! Seeing this fleet won't mean anything if we don't live to tell the tale!_"

The two teams raced through the door just in time to surprise an Elite and his troop of Jackals as they came around the steel partition beyond. The aliens weren't able to react fast enough to stop from getting shot, and once they were sure the area was clear, they stopped to plan for just a moment.

"Who's killing Regret, and who's providing cover? I want us all in agreement for this," Fred said.

"You do it, Chief," said Adriana, "For all of us."

He looked at the others. One by one, they nodded in agreement, so he did as well.

On their way deeper inside, they encountered only three Elite Minors, coming to investigate the disturbance out front. The Spartans killed them and continued their advance, charging up the central ramp to the main chamber.

The room was spacious and elegant, ornate pillars lining the walls and twin rows of stone lanterns marking a path through the center of the room. Regret sat on a gravity throne before an immense waterfall on the far side of the room.

Fred didn't even bother with the ramps to the lower level; he vaulted over the railing and charged the Prophet, trusting his siblings to have his back. The sounds of gunfire and screams of aliens assured him that his faith in them was justified. Regret jerked his throne out of the way, but once his Honor Guards were dead, the other Spartans turned their fire on him instead, despite the energy shields protecting him. The distraction was enough.

Fred grabbed him and hauled him off the throne, combat knife already in hand. The blade bit so deep into the Prophet's neck that it nearly decapitated him, and he bled out in seconds - a quicker and more merciful death than many humans had suffered under his orders.

"Bad news," said Cortana, "The Phantoms are turning around; the fleet is preparing to fire on _our_ position. We need to get out of here _now_!"

At her words, all of the Spartans holstered their weapons and flat-out _ran_ back the way they had come. They exited the temple just in time to see one of the Covenant ships drop in close and start firing its plasma beam, preparing to destroy the temple. They bolted for the corner, Kelly already in the lead, and swung themselves around it, jumping down to a lower level. They _sprinted_ along the platform, using every ounce of augmented speed to stay ahead of the plasma weapon, its heat licking at their backs.

"Not like this, not like this!" Cortana gasped, "_John!_"

They jumped off the edge and into the lake below, praying that the water would protect them from the energy stream.

They broke the surface and plunged dozens of meters at once, their armor weighing them down alongside chunks of new rubble. Yet as they drifted, stunned by the impact, something grasped them in the water and started pulling them deeper.

"**This is not your grave… but you are welcome in it."**


	15. Thirteen: Fighting Spirit of Steel

Thirteen: Fighting Spirit of Steel

* * *

The Arbiter arrived at the Prophet's inner sanctum right as Rtas 'Vadumee was leaving. The other Sangheili nodded to him as he passed, though his guards did not, before the silver-armored Elite approached the Prophets.

"Politics, how tiresome," Truth sighed, "Did you know, Arbiter, that the Elites have threatened to resign? To quit the High Council? Because of this - _exchange of hats_?"

"_We_ have always been your protectors," Thel 'Vadamee replied, shuffling his hooves slightly. Though he knew they were necessary and how to play them, he only rarely had patience for political games. As a people, Sangheili generally believed in solving disagreements with their swords.

"These are trying times for all of us," Truth conceded.

"Even as the humans' annihilation filled us with satisfaction, the loss of one of the Sacred Rings wracked our hearts with grief," Mercy interjected before Truth held up a hand to silence him.

"Putting aside our sorrow," the other Prophet said, "we renewed our faith in the promise that other rings would be found. And see how our faith has been rewarded."

He gestured to the ring spinning slowly in the void of space beyond the glass, and the Arbiter took a step back, only then realizing that this ring was, in fact, a Halo, nearly identical to the one at Threshold - the one whose destruction had cost him everything.

"_Halo_," Mercy said, with zeal borne of years of fervent worship, "Its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation."

"But how to start this process?" Truth said, stroking the strange fleshy lobes that dangled from his chin, "For ages we searched for one who might unlock the secrets of the ring... an Oracle. And with your help, we've found it." The Prophets guided him over to where 343 Guilty Spark was caught in a stasis field, preventing him from moving or speaking.

"With appropriate humility," Mercy said, "we plied the Oracle with questions, and it, with clarity and grace, has shown us - the key." He pushed a button on his throne, and an image of the Index appeared next to the helpless Monitor.

"You will journey to the surface of the ring," Truth told the Sangheili, "and retrieve this Sacred Icon. With it, we shall fulfill our promise-"

"Salvation for all!" Mercy interjected again.

"-and begin the Great Journey."

The Arbiter dipped his head to the pair and turned to go complete his task. Once the door sealed behind him, Mercy murmured to Truth, "Do you think he suspects?"

After a moment of silence, the other replied, "No. They all suspect nothing."

* * *

The Sangheili boarded a Phantom bound for the surface of the ring, only half-listening as Tartarus spoke. _"Once the shield is down, we'll head straight to the Library. I do not wish to keep the Hierarchs waiting."_

He could no longer contain his curiosity and voiced a question that had been on his mind ever since he heard the news. "The human who killed the Prophet of Regret. Who was it?"

_"Who do you think?"_

"The _Demons_ are _here_?"

Tartarus snorted an affirmative. _"Why? Looking for a little payback?"_

"Retrieving the Icon is my only concern," the Arbiter replied aloud, then thought to himself, 'Though I would very much love to pursue the beasts and give them a piece of my mind.'

The Jiralhanae at the helm chuckled as if he had heard what the Sangheili had not said. "_Of course."_

The Phantom soared toward the Sentinel Wall protecting the Library. There were signs of recent fighting everywhere; the wreckage of Sentinels themselves, along with splatters of neon blood from the Covenant. Yet when the Arbiter dropped from the Phantom, there was something else on the wind, something that made his hide shiver.

Then the sensation grew stronger, and he turned.

A Sentinel Enforcer rose up beyond the edge of the platform. It seemed ready to engage, but Tartarus beat it to the punch, firing the Phantom's turrets at it and convincing it to chase him rather than the Sangheili. "_Lower the shield, Arbiter," _he said as they both raced away, _"I'll pick you up when you finish."_

He acknowledged the other and turned to go, ducking under swarms of Constructors making repairs in wake of all the fighting. It seemed that there was only one way to advance through the wall: by activating a series of pistons and dropping inside, falling through curving passages through the construct. The piston paths were clearly not meant to accommodate organic life forms, but they did so just the same.

After a short but bumpy ride, he reached solid ground again. It seemed he had arrived in a chamber with a plasma conduit power generator, the energy stream running overhead through the center of the room. There was also a swarm of Sentinels chasing a few Jackals and Unggoy. Though his people disdained their cowardice, the other members of the Covenant were still his allies, and the Sangheili galloped forward to defend them.

When the Sentinels were destroyed, the smaller aliens followed him deeper into the Sentinel Wall, the Grunts huddling so close in his shadow that he almost tripped over them several times. Yet the Sangheili barely noticed, more focused on the faint scent that he kept getting occasional whiffs of. He defeated the Enforcer guarding one of the shield's power sources, and the scent came again, stronger - rot and decay, but _strange_.

Frightening.

The Arbiter deactivated the locks and opened the blast door, their platform moving along an unseen path toward the far side of the gulf. The stench of death was stronger now, but there were bodies all around him, corpses he ignored. They were dead; they were no threat.

Tartarus's Phantom came gliding over the Sentinel Wall and soared along next to the platform. _"Our path to the Library is clear,"_ he said over the radio, _"I'll pick you up on the ledge ahead."_

The blast doors before them slid back, revealing another Enforcer. _"Blasted machines!"_ Tartarus cursed, jerking his Phantom back and away, _"Make your own way through the wall, Arbiter!"_

The Sangheili clicked his mandibles in irritation - then stopped. 'No, it can't be.'

It was. A Flood combat form leaped to the top of the platform and fired on him with its weapon. The Sangheili gunned it down with his plasma rifle while the surviving Unggoy ran around in terror. The Jackals at least were halfway useful and added their fire to his own. When it fell, flesh cooked from the heat, he approached as close as he dared, plasma rifle at the ready in case it got back up. 'An infected human,' he thought, 'It is not in a poor state - it has not been infected long. There must be a band of humans ahead of us, heading for the Library.'

He squeezed his mandibles, then chose speed over valor and abandoned the Sentinels to their fight with the Flood. He jumped through a hatch and raced ahead to close the distance between him and the humans. He followed the hall and activated another piston at the end.

It was only a short drop to the hall below. It stank of the Flood, the air so filled with spores that it seemed like green fog. He heard the hiss of Sentinel lasers and human gunfire ahead, so he raced forward.

It was only a handful of combat forms and the scattered remains of some Sentinels, so he kept moving, though slower than before. The presence of the Flood made it easy to believe that enemies could jump out of every shadow - and some Infection Pods did, in a chamber beyond. Rather than waste power, he stamped them to death with his hooves, then kept moving.

He made another controlled fall into the next room, where there was still more fighting between the Sentinels and the Flood. He fought his way through the waves of combat forms and the carrier forms that followed before he was able to drop through to the level below.

It opened up instantly. He was outside again, and there was a battle in progress between the Flood and an Enforcer and its supporting Sentinels. But this time someone seemed to be supporting them; a sniper was shooting the Flood from a distance with a weapon that made the corpses dissolve in swirls of glowing golden flakes. Whoever it was didn't seem to count him as a threat because they didn't fire on him as he ran for cover, just on the Flood.

'Commander.'

[Go ahead, Shields.]

'Arbiter's here.'

[Good. I'll be right in.]

When everything went silent, he left it for a minute, then slipped out from behind the pillar he'd used for cover. The Flood was all dead, most of it gone entirely - destroyed by the odd rifle no doubt - and the Enforcer wasn't even paying attention to him. He used its distraction to sprint across to the opposite housing, where he was swarmed by more Flood. There were only a few combat forms but they seemed more vicious than before, throwing themselves into battle whole-heartedly and trying harder to kill him.

The Arbiter pulled a similar tactic in the next room, though it grated at him to leave the battles unfought and foes unslain. But when he entered the next power conduit room, he was grateful he hadn't wasted his energy. The air was so thick with Flood spores that visibility was barely more than two body lengths in any direction, and cargo modules scattered about lent additional tension to the situation; Flood forms could - and did - leap out from behind them at any time.

Despite the tainted air, the Sangheili forced himself to take slow, deep breaths to calm his racing hearts. Then he kept moving through the chamber.

The Flood heard him and came to meet him in waves, and it took forever to kill the monstrosities. But he did, and kept going, dropping down another piston path further into the Sentinel Wall. As he fell, he couldn't help but wonder if at some point he would just keep falling into the structure of the ring itself. In truth, save perhaps falling in honorable battle, he could think of no better death than being lost in one of the holy rings.

Another contaminated room waited below, and another piston. He dropped down this one as well and found himself in an open chamber, a wide cavern set into the Sentinel Wall, with no means of continuing forward except by going down again. He traded out his weapons, replacing his plasma rifle for another with a higher charge, and switching the human pistol of a plasma sword from one of his fallen brothers, intoning a soft prayer as he activated it.

The Arbiter activated the next piston and fell through more of the curved paths - he was going to be quite heavily bruised at the end of this mission, and he would stink of Flood. He came to a stop on a crosspiece through the bottom and stayed for a moment, listening.

Wisely so, for the Flood howled as someone launched a plasma bombardment against them. When all was silent, he dropped to the floor at last and looked around. There was no sign of what had attacked the Flood, but a few of the parasites still remained. He cut them down with his brother's blade, then paused for a moment to admire the sight of the Library in the distance. The Forerunner's creation seemed as pristine as ever, lit with gold, despite the infestation.

"Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee."

He whirled around, blade raised - and stopped dead, then dropped to one knee. "Forgive me, Holy One. I did not realize - I will accept whatever punishment you see fit for raising my sword against you."

"Peace," said the Forerunner in the Sangheili tongue - for who else could it be? Who else had such magnificent and advanced armor? Who else could appear in such silence, with such skill, save one who had transcended to become a god? "There is no punishment where there has been no crime."

The god tossed him something, a wristband of some kind. He caught it and peered at it. It was made of the same silvery metal as the holy rings themselves, with a single glowing blue light at one point on it and other smaller lights that pulsed out rhythmically from the blue.

"Put it on," said the Forerunner, "It will mark you as friendly to the Sentinels, so long as you are not killed and infected by the Parasite. And be wary. Do not trust the Prophets, and do not turn your back on Tartarus."

The Sangeheili did as instructed, but when he looked up again, the god was gone, just as swiftly and silently as he'd come. He paused, then rose and bowed to the space where the god had been. Then he continued on.

At last he reached ground level beyond the Sentinel Wall. There were Flood there, of course, and as he began scything his way through them, Sangheili orbital insertion pods began landing all around him, at last bringing proper allies to fight alongside. With their help, he easily slew the Parasite and paused a moment to catch his breath.

"Forerunners be praised! The Arbiter!" One of the others came to stand before him and continued, "This Quarantine Zone has been compromised. We must do what we can against the Flood. Our commander has landed further in; let us join him."

The Sangheili nodded his head in agreement and led the way toward a small stretch of tunnel boring through the rock to another canyon. As they had said, there were more of their people beyond, including Rtas 'Vadumee. "Arbiter!" he called, "What are you doing here?"

Before he could answer, the howls of the Flood rose all around them, forcing them to stave off the Parasite until a Phantom arrived with a few more reinforcements, its plasma turrets blasting away the few remaining combat forms. When at last they had fallen, Thel approached the other Sangheili. "At the center of this zone," he told Rtas, "is a Sacred Icon critical to the Great Journey. I _must _find it."

Rtas nodded and clenched his fist. "We shall cut into the heart of this infestation, retrieve the Icon, and burn any Flood that stand in our way!" The other Sangheili roared their approval, and the SpecOps Commander said, "The Parasite is not to be trifled with. I hope you know what you're doing.

_"Forward, warriors, and fear not pain nor death. Go, Arbiter; I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive."_

The Phantom had dropped off a Spectre for them, and he jumped into the driver's seat, waiting for others to board before taking off. The remainder of the warriors took Ghosts and followed close behind. They all sped through the rusted-steel doors, following another short path through a small wall before they emerged into a machine shop. Enforcers and Sentinels dominated the fight, bombarding the Flood, but as the god had said, not one launched a single attack in the direction of the Spectre.

"Commander," one of the Sangheili cried, "we found a human vehicle!"

_"Keep moving,"_ was the reply, _"I'm on my way."_

They mowed through the enemy ranks and entered another stretch of tunnel before emerging in the open once more. They had arrived on a wide, spiral ramp covered in snow, and over the far side, they could see a human-controlled transport - a "Pelican", it was called - firing at the Flood alongside yet another Sentinel Enforcer and-

"Forerunners?!" one of the other Sangheili cried.

The gods were perched atop the wall that ringed the spiral ramp, some wielding the long black rifles that destroyed the Flood corpses, while others carried shorter weapons akin to Covenant carbines or human assault rifles, providing cover for the snipers. There weren't many of them, but they were gunning down the Flood with zeal, protecting both humans _and_ Sangheili from the Parasite.

When the immediate area was clear - they vanished. Just jumped through swirling portals and disappeared like they had never been there at all.

"Such is the power of the gods!" another Sangheili chorused, "Soon we too shall follow in their footsteps and begin the Great Journey! It is as the Prophets have said!"

'Then why did the Holy One tell me not to trust them?' the Arbiter thought, but he said nothing, only kept moving forward. The Enforcers continued to ignore the Spectre, making for the Flood-controlled tanks instead - and also the Ghosts with the other Sangheili. "Stay close!" he called, hoping that the band would cover them as well.

It seemed to; they wove through the wreckage of an ancient battlefield and into another tunnel, where they found more Flood-controlled vehicles firing on Enforcers just outside a building that looked like it had been hit by a plasma bombardment, the metal of the ruined structure still glowing with heat, warmth they could feel even at a distance.

There was a human tank blocking their path, controlled by the Flood. The Arbiter popped the hatch on the Spectre and threw two plasma grenades, one after the other. The throws weren't perfect, but they did the job, adhering to the body of the tank and exploding, dealing enough damage that the vehicle rolled to a stop and broke down.

The other Sangheili commended him, but he waived off their praise in favor of moving forward. But they had no choice but to abandon the Spectre and proceed on foot into the wrecked structure, which was on fire and creaked and groaned as if it was in pain. It was not safe, but they had no choice. "Stay close," the Arbiter reminded them. He hesitated, then showed them the wristband. "I know not why, but one of the gods saw fit to give me this. It marks us as friends to the Sentinels and will let us pass them by."

A few of the younger warriors seemed in awe of it, but one of the elders was more practical. He snorted and nodded his head. "We need not destroy the Sentinels if they do not target us," he agreed, "Leave them to fight the Flood. Let us move."

The others formed up around him almost like an Honor Guard to stay in range of the band, and the Arbiter couldn't help but think of better times, when he was still a Supreme Commander in the _Fleet of Particular Justice_, when he had so many warriors at his beck and call. But that was a lifetime ago now, and the mantle of Arbiter was his to bear.

* * *

'How's he doing? We lost visuals on him and the others when they went inside the building.'

[He's still alive, which is more than can be said for some. Moving up to the last canyon now. Once the Gravemind moves to _High Charity_, we'll actually be able to modify the Sentinels' targeting roster, take the Sangheili off.]

'That can't come soon enough.'

[Agreed.]

* * *

The Arbiter let his Wraith slow to a stop and assessed the situation ahead, his remaining brothers bringing their Ghosts to halt alongside him. There were several Flood in Wraiths trying to guard a structure against three Enforcers and a small horde of normal Sentinels, and both sides were having a tough time of it. At last he said, "We will take the near side. That should turn the battle in the Sentinels' favor, so that they may eliminate the Parasite while we press on ahead. Time is of the essence."

"By your word, Arbiter," said one of the others.

So they did. The Ghosts took the risk of darting ahead to harry the tank and the enemy Ghosts that zipped out to support it, while the Arbiter swung his own tank around to launch plasma bombs at the Flood. When the enemy Wraith exploded, they all moved forward to fight the Flood inside the structure, where the fight was decidedly more lopsided; even the Flood died the same as they did when hit by superheated plasma.

When the area was as clear as it was going to get, they all hopped from their vehicles to head further in. But Thel paused at the side of a dead human combat form lying next to that of a Sangheili. Blasphemous though it was, he couldn't help but think, 'In the end, we are not so different, are we?'

The call of one of the other Sangheili made him lift his head and put aside his heretical thoughts. He led the way into the transport room, the other Sangheili somewhere behind him. Rtas caught up with him as they both charged up a ramp to the gondola controls, where another grinding caught their attention. The humans were launching another gondola from an adjacent tower. Rtas said, "They must be after the Icon as well."

Just as the Arbiter was about to start their own to give chase, the unearthly screeches of the Flood caught their attention again. The white-armored Ultra ignited his plasma sword and said, "On your way, Arbiter. I'll deal with these beasts."

He called two other Ultras to join him and raced away, blade at the ready. Thel said a soft prayer for the gods to watch over him, since they had made themselves known more times in the past few hours than the preceding hundred thousand years. Then he turned and activated the controls, sending him and the other Sangheili after the humans' gondola.

They glided across a gap in the Sentinel Wall, an ingress opening up before them as they approached the other side. A number of combat forms gathered on a platform on their forward left, and one of the Sangheili called a warning to the others as their gondola approached.

A shot lanced through the space and took out two of the combat forms on the platform, the bodies dissolving in a swirl of golden flakes. The rest shrieked in wrath; some even jumped too early and went plunging toward the ground far below, but more made it across. The Sangheili fought them down, then looked up.

One of the gods was perched on one of the cross-pieces overhead, wielding one of the long black rifles. "Hail, Sangheili," she greeted them in their own tongue, "My Commander has asked me to provide support, and I will do so gladly for as long as I can."

"We are honored, Holy One," the Arbiter replied, pressing his fist to his chest and inclining his head, a gesture which the other Sangheili mirrored.

But after that there was no time for talk. The Flood arrived in droves, charging up from somewhere below in the gondola, somewhere they could not reach. Thel hardly noticed when they began their ascent through the section of the wall, or even when the path leveled off again, so focused were they all on fighting the Parasite.

At last, as the last gateway opened up before them, the god called down to them, "Our paths diverge here. Fare thee well, warriors! May we meet again victorious!"

They roared their approval and raised their swords to her. She lifted her rifle to them, then jumped through another portal that opened before her.

As the gondola docked, one of the SpecOps Sangheili said, "We shall protect this vessel. It may be our only means of escape."

"Retrieve the Icon, Arbiter, for the Covenant and for the Journey!" said another.

The Arbiter ran on ahead into the curving hall beyond. There were Infection pods all over the place, along with countless bodies for them to take, but he had no time to deal with them. Instead he sprinted past them and to the very edge of the Index chamber, where the remains of an Enforcer lay smoldering on the deck. Then he activated his active camouflage and slipped inside.

Miranda looked around the Index chamber, searching for something to hold on to while she retrieved the Index from its holder. She couldn't do a full run through the Library like Blue Team had, in order to reach the Grand Lift that would take her down the "correct" way; she might have been the daughter of the woman who made the Spartans, but she wasn't one herself.

A torn cable seemed to be her best option; the casing on it wasn't as slippery as she expected and had a fair bit of grip to it. She tugged it a little closer to the Index and leaned out over the gulf, unaware of the invisible Spartan ready to step in at a moment's notice should Johnson not get there in time. Fortunately, he had nothing to worry about; the S-I caught hold of the cable a scant second after it began to slide. He growled, "You know, your father never asks me for help either."

"The Index is secure," Miranda said by way of a reply as she hooked the T-shaped Key to her belt, and Johnson pulled her back up to the platform.

"McKenzie, Perez, how's our exit?" he called to the Marines who were supposed to be guarding the door. When there was no response, he said, "You hear me Marines?"

Still no response.

He pulled his battle rifle off his back. "We've got trouble."

Miranda lifted her SMG to the ready position even as Johnson warily swept the room. Though they could not see the enemy, their intuition told them that it was there, a belief confirmed when the Arbiter leaped at Johnson out of the dark, roaring. Johnson cursed as he fired at him, trying to do some damage, but the Sangheili's shields absorbed the fire. Then the Elite ran at him again, and he dodged out of the way, and then again.

He came up more prepared and jammed his elbow into the Elite's side hard enough to wind him, sending him back a few steps, but the advantage was gone as fast as it had come. When he brought his BR around again, the Sangheili batted it out of his hands and slammed him up against a wall. "How you doin'," Johnson grunted, and the Arbiter roared again before throwing the human aside. Johnson hit the ground hard but still struggled to rise.

Gunfire hit the Sangheili's shields; Miranda had reclaimed her SMG and called for Johnson to stay down as she shot at the Arbiter. The Elite darted for cover, disappearing from view, and she called out to the sergeant.

It was no good; he was unconscious, but John ran an imperceptible scan to make sure he was still alive. He was.

The Elite leaped at Miranda as he had Johnson, lunging from out of the dark with a battle cry. He tore the SMG from her hands and threw her aside. She hit the ground not far from the other human and crawled for his fallen weapon, but before she got there, a crackling field of gravitational energy surrounded her, formed by the Fist of Rukt, then yanked her back into Tartarus's hands.

_'Do not trust the Prophets, and do not turn your back on Tartarus.'_

The Arbiter tensed in case he needed to attack, only vaguely hearing the Brute speak as the god's voice echoed inside his head. He was not even aware of the fact that he himself had spoken, only that the hormone humans called 'adrenaline' was rushing through his veins with every beat of his hearts, eyes flicking between the three Brutes that approached from before and either side.

"When the Prophets learn of this, they will take your head."

"_When_ they learn?" he laughed, "Fool. They ordered me to do it."

Betrayal from the ones who were supposed to lead his people.

Betrayal from the ones who were supposed to guide them all on the Great Journey.

Just as the god had said.

A pulse from the Fist of Rukt blasted him backwards. He fell down into the depths of the Library, where a monster waited for him.


	16. Fourteen: Explanation of the Truth

Fourteen: Explanation of the Truth

* * *

Fred came back to awareness slowly, with the realization that there were lights passing by overhead. He and his brothers and sisters were being dragged over the metal floor of a Forerunner structure, bound in strong tentacles. He shook his head, trying to orient himself despite the sharp bouncing of his body over the uneven floor, and struggled against his bonds, sensing that his brothers and sisters had begun to do the same. The tentacles only gripped them tighter before they were lifted up into the air.

"What… is _that_?" Cortana whispered over TEAMCOM.

The _thing_ was very much like a snake, but its head was almost entirely mouth, with two long tendrils extending from its lower lip and no visible eyes. Many tentacles extended from its body, a handful of which bound the Spartans, and the body itself covered the entire floor of the cavernous space and spread partway up the walls, an impressive task in and of itself, but they could not discern its true color in the misty green light.

The thing pulled back slightly as if affronted. It had heard her. **"I?"** it said, leaning in again, **"I... am a monument... to all your **_**sins**_**."** It breathed green mist - Flood spores - over them as it spoke, but they also heard it inside their minds.

There were sounds from up above, and the Spartans looked over as the thing's tentacles carried a silver-armored Elite down into the chamber, holding him alongside them. He was struggling fiercely, but he couldn't overcome the thing's strength.

"_Relax_," Fred called to him, jerking his head toward the creature, "We'd rather not piss this thing off."

"_Demons_," the Elite hissed at them before focusing on the Gravemind.

**"These ones are **_**machine**_** and **_**nerve**_**,"** it growled, lifting the Spartans closer and subtly shifting and tightening its grip, making them renew their struggles. It petted Fred's helmet with one tentacle, then curled it over his visor. **"And have their minds concluded."**

It let out a low rumbling noise deep in its throat as it turned its attention to the Arbiter. Fred yanked the tentacle away from his face and watched as it turned the Sangheili this way and that before finally tipping him upside down, seeming to examine him. **"This one is but **_**flesh **_**and **_**faith**_**, and is the more **_**deluded**_**."**

"Kill me or release me, Parasite," the Elite snarled, "but do not waste my time with _talk_!"

**"There **_**is**_** much talk,"** it returned, **"and **_**I**_** have listened - through **_**rock**_** and **_**metal**_** and **_**time**_**."** Its immense head pulled away from them, more tentacles lifting up out of the darkness below them. **"Now I shall talk, and **_**you**_** shall listen."**

"Greetings!" the red Monitor said cheerfully, bound in the Gravemind's tentacles, "I am Twenty-Four-Oh-One Penitent Tangent. I am the Monitor of Installation Zero-Five."

"And I am the Prophet of Regret, councilor most high... Hierarch of the Covenant!" the San'Shyuum gasped from where he was fused with another tentacle.

Penitent Tangent took notice of the Spartans and zipped over to them despite the tentacle holding him tight. "Reclaimers?! _Here_?! At _last_! We have much to do. This facility must be activated if we are to control this outbreak!"

"S-stay where you are," Regret cried, "Nothing can be done until my sermon is complete!"

"_Not true_," the Monitor said indignantly, "This Installation has a successful utilization record of one-point-two trillion simulated and one actual. It is ready to fire on-demand."

Regret turned to the Arbiter. "Of all the objects our lords left behind, there are none so _worthless_ as these Oracles! They know _nothing_ of the _Great Journey_!"

**"This one's **_**containment**_**,"** the Gravemind interrupted, shuddering as it hefted Penitent Tangent, then lifting Regret, **"and this one's **_**Great Journey**_** are the same."**

Both were returned to the darkness below, but they heard the Prophet howl in fear, something that sent a chill down their spines. What was this thing _doing_ to them, and _how_?

**"Your Prophets have promised you **_**freedom**_** from a doomed existence,"** the Gravemind continued, its massive head swaying closer to the Arbiter, its spore-laden breath giving him the urge to cough, **"but you will find **_**no **_**salvation on this ring. Those who built this place **_**knew **_**what they wrought. Do **_**not**_** mistake their intent, or **_**all**_** will perish, as they did before."**

Blue Team _froze_. They knew those words. One of Cortana's personality spikes had said them with the _exact same inflection_ on approach to Alpha Halo.

Cortana covered for their lapse - by playing a recording of Sergeant Smith's voice from Sam's external speakers. "This thing is right. Halo is a _weapon_; your _Prophets_ are making a big mistake."

"Your ignorance already destroyed _one_ of the Sacred Rings, Demons," the Arbiter snapped, "It _shall not_ harm another." But then he stopped, and stared at Sam in surprise.

**"If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to stop the Key from turning, but first it must be found. **_**You**_** will search one likely spot,"** the Gravemind said to the Spartans before turning to the Arbiter, **"and **_**you**_** will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us **_**brothers**_**."**

It tapped into Halo's teleportation system, keying in the coordinates, then threw the humans and Sangheili away from itself, sending them away to different locations around - and on - Halo.

* * *

The Great Schism had already begun by then. Sangheili and Jiralhanae were fighting all over, ship to ship and single combat anywhere they could be found, but the Elites were outnumbered. The Jiralhanae had the Kig-Yar, the Unggoy, and the Yam'ee at their backs; all but a few of the Huragok were largely ambivalent, and the Mgalekgolo were split amongst themselves, sometimes even within their own colonies.

Despite the ferocity of the fighting, Truth was broadcasting to the city via the Covenant equivalent of television_. "We are all of us gravely concerned. The release of the Parasite was unexpected, unfortunate, but... there is no need to panic. In truth, this is a time to rejoice, a moment that all the Covenant should savor - for the Sacred Icon has been found."_ Truth held up the Index before the camera. _"With it, our Path is clear, our entry into the Divine Beyond, guaranteed. The Great Journey is nigh, and nothing, not even the Flood, can stop it."_

The Flood might not have been the ones to do the stopping, but they certainly sent their regards. Blue and Gray Teams materialized in the Council Chamber, seven fully-armored Spartans, unarmed for the moment but that meant nothing; they had been trained to be just as effective with their bare hands. But it seemed that the Gravemind had more invested in them than they realized; it had provided them with enough Covenant weapons for each to have one and at least two reloads for the Needlers and carbines.

As one, they leveled their weapons at the Prophets and their bodyguards as the Brutes stepped forward to protect them. "Kill the Demons!" Truth ordered and pushed a button on his throne, and the Prophets' platform sank down to a lower level.

Fred barely managed to stop Kelly from making a leap for them, instead ordering them all to turn their weapons on the two Brutes and the Grunts that had manned the cameras. The Spartans picked up their weapons as well; they were going to need all the firepower they could get in the heart of enemy territory.

"Put me down on one of the pedestals by the door," Cortana said, and the Spartans moved to do so. Fred laid his hand on the emitter for just long enough for her to jump, then pulled away. The AI appeared a second later and said, "That Prophet, Truth, he has the Index. You've got to take it from him. Let me get these doors. Go. It'll be easier to track Truth if I stay in the network."

The doors beeped and slid open, and the Spartans headed through. But as they went, Fred said, "Cortana, what was that?"

"_A Gravemind, a Flood compound intelligence -"_

"Not that," he interrupted, starting to shoot at the Covenant that appeared before them as they moved deeper into the city, "It said the same thing that you did on approach to Alpha Halo. 'Those who built this place.'"

"And the recording of Sergeant Smith," said Sam, "I _know_ he never said any of that, not around _us_."

The AI was silent for a long moment. At last she said, _"There's too much to explain in a single conversation. Just know that John and I have a _long_ history, and we both know things that the laws of the universe and history itself say we shouldn't. Now keep moving, Spartans. You've got Prophets to kill."_

Fred clenched his jaw, then nodded and shot a Grunt manning a plasma turret. The other Unggoy went down just as fast; the Jiralhanae leading them hadn't done much to stop the Spartans yet. They seemed even more ineffectual against them than the Sangheili, relying more on brute strength than any attempt at strategy or skill, so the Spartans just mowed right through them, following Cortana's directions through to a grav lift leading down deeper into the city.

_"Truth is moving through the lower levels of the tower," _she told them, _"I'll reverse this grav lift; drop down, try to cut him off."_ When the Spartans peered dubiously down, she continued, _"It's safe, really; just step in."_

Fred sighed and jumped. The grav lift caught him and set him gently on the platform below. Sam landed next to him, and they moved forward to cover the others as they followed, firing on a group of Grunts that exited through a door ahead of them. When they were dead, the Spartans headed through the door.

So many of the halls in _High Charity_ seemed all the same: violet walls with alcoves and holograms, partitions in front of the doors, alien plants in beds at the center. And the aliens themselves, of course. A trio of Jackals greeted them with heavy plasma fire as they headed through another door, but the warriors overwhelmed them and swept through the room, slaying the Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts that they found there.

The Cortana came over the COM again. _"Wait a minute, I'm reading some Marine IFF transponders! They're originating somewhere below your position. I'll guide you to them."_

* * *

John wanted nothing more than to be down on the ring or in _High Charity_, personally fighting against Truth's forces and the enemy Flood. It was agony, knowing that he did and that this universe's Spartans were down there fighting and he couldn't go down to help them. But he was needed with the fleet; the enemy Gravemind's presence was like an ocean bearing down on them, seeking the smallest cracks in their defenses to overwhelm them all and make them _true_ Flood, mindless beasts bent on consuming all life in the galaxy.

So he had to stay safe, stay focused. Even though he had a natural resistance to the enemy's will, it was still just _resistance_, not _immunity_. He still had to fight back.

But he still watched through the eyes of his Infected as the Spartans kept running through _High Charity_. [Guard them well.]

'Of course, Commander.'

* * *

Kelly emptied half a magazine a piece from each of her Needlers into a Brute Captain. He had been standing guard outside the last of the Marine cell blocks, but the explosion from the crystalline quills sent him flying, letting Gray Team into the cell block. They killed the guards inside and freed the Marines inside. Cortana directed them back to the central grav lift with a warning that there were foes coming down. When they were dead, the Spartans headed back up.

As they alighted there, an Elite Major and three Minors chased by a flock of Yam'ee charged into the room. Startled, the humans all lifted their weapons and fired. The Drones were the bigger threat at the time, flying around shooting everything that wasn't them, so for the moment the humans worked together with the Sangheili to gun them down. Then they pointed their weapons at each other, both groups hesitating.

Finally Fred lowered his carbine. "Neither of us has the time for this. Let's just go our separate ways."

The Major hesitated, eyeing them all, then nodded and lowered his plasma rifle. He led his people through another door that Cortana opened for them, while the humans headed through a different one. As they went, the AI said, _"Truth is turning on the Sangheili; they're being killed all over the city. It's... it's awful."_

In the very next room, they encountered a pair of Hunters, but the humans had seven Spartans on their side and won handily, even without heavy weapons. They continued through the door behind the partition at the back of the hall and found themselves in what looked like a mostly dead garden. With birds - live birds! - on a spaceship with an already heavily-burdened oxygen supply.

All of the humans blinked.

_Why_.

"Nope," said Mike, and he turned and went back into the last hall. When the others followed, they found that he was now crouched in one of the alcoves on the side of the hall, helmet off, crunching his way through some energy bars. One by one the other humans joined him, letting some of the Covenant fight themselves out.

When they were done, they continued on. Cortana came over TEAMCOM. _"Did you enjoy your snack time?"_

"Maybe."

_"Well, good, because the Covenant just destroyed two of their own ships because of a Flood infestation. Looks like it's out of containment now."_

"Shit."

_"My thoughts exactly; I'll keep you posted. But I've marked out the locations of all the Sangheili between you and Truth. With your permission, Master Chief, I'd like to tell them that it seems we now have a common enemy and if they stay out of your way, you'll leave them alone. Is that amendable?"_

Fred thought for a second, then exchanged glances with the other Spartans. At last he said, "Do it. The Prophets and the Index are priority one; anything that gets us there faster is alright for now."

"_Understood."_

The Spartans continued their advance down a long, steeply-sloped hall, jogging ahead of the surviving Marines. There were no aliens in sight, so they headed through to the next area, where a gravity conveyor waited. They were about to step on when Cortana broke over the COM again. _"Slipspace rupture - it's _In Amber Clad_!"_

The frigate blasted overhead and just barely curved away from an inner wall, heading in the same direction they were. _"Hailing… no response. She's crashed into another tower ahead of our position, and I'm not registering any _human_ vital signs. I think she's been overrun by the Flood."_

"Shit!"

Even as the Spartans started racing ahead, crossing the gravity conveyor, John's teams were on the move as well, covering the Sangheili's retreat and trying to contain the Flood, even as Winterspell infiltrated _High Charity_'s PA systems and broadcasted evac orders to all the aliens.

Ahead of Blue and Gray Teams, a group of Jiralhanae chased some Sangheili along the path that curved around the side of the building ahead. The Elites seemed to have received Cortana's message, because they threw themselves out of the way to let the Spartans fire on the Brutes, then added their own to the fray. The Brutes went down, but not before they got their own licks in, killing the last two Marines that the Spartans had rescued.

Gray Team collected their dog tags as they had all the others. As they did so, the Sangheili murmured amongst themselves, not clearly enough for their suits to pick up and translate. Then one, a gold-armored Field Marshal, stepped forward. "The human female on the radio, she said that the Prophets ordered this, the Brutes killing us, and more besides. She said you seek to kill them." When Fred nodded, he clenched a fist and said, "She is right then; we have a common foe. May we join you, at least for now?"

Fred flicked a questioning amber light on the other Spartans' HUDs, and after a moment he received mixed responses, though there seemed to be a general consensus. They all knew that the Sangheili were strong and skilled, and now apparently _very_ motivated. "Don't fall behind," he told them.

The Elites nodded and fell in with them, their long, powerful legs letting them match the Spartans' speed.

There were more foes ahead, mostly Grunts, and the warriors simply knocked them off the edge of the platform, rather than waste ammo; the end result was still the same. They all rounded the corner into another garden, this one with only a few plants but a tall waterfall and reflecting pond instead. As they prepared to fight, there was the crack of an alien rifle, and one of the Brutes fell, body dissolving in a swirl of golden flakes.

They looked up; there were two people in sleek green and black metallic armor above them. One of them wielded a long black rifle, the other a shorter one, and both of them were shooting at the Brutes and their allies.

"Forerunners!" one of the Elites cried.

"Hail, Spartans and Sangheili!" the spotter called down to them, "The Prophets are _liars_, and have been lying to _all_ the Covenant for decades, ordering the unjust slaughter of humankind. Press on, and put an end to them!"

So they did. More surviving Sangheili joined up with the Spartans, and their band continued to grow as they fought their way through the gardens, the Forerunners effortlessly jumping from structure to structure to keep up with them. They were joined by two more Forerunners as well, another sniper and spotter pair, wielding the same weapons as their fellows, but they all broke away when the group went inside.

Each successive hall was virtually identical to the one before it; it was a wonder none of the aliens got lost patrolling the area. Or, that was what they thought until they reached the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. There was a battle in progress between a bunch of Brutes and a few Sangheili, who had a pair of Hunters on their side. The Brutes were killed by the now significant band of Spartans and Elites, even as Cortana said, "Hang on, I'm picking up two more transponders. It's the Commander and Johnson! They're closing on Truth's position - they'll need your help!"

"Advance, Demons, and kill the Betrayers!" the Field Marshal from before called to them, "We will seek a ship off _High Charity_, and await you if we can!"

Fred saluted them and led Blue and Gray Teams away. "Cortana, do what you can for them."

"_Already on it. There's a CSS-class battlecruiser docked pretty much straight down from here; I'll lead them to it."_

* * *

There were three of them, easily eight feet tall, and one of them carried 343 Guilty Spark tucked under his arm like the Monitor was just a piece of equipment. "Split them," Tartarus growled to the other two, "One in each Phantom." Even as the other Brutes shoved their prisoners toward their respective Phantoms, he knelt before the two surviving Prophets.

"The hopes of all the Covenant rest on your shoulders, Chieftain," said Truth. He handed the Index to the Brute as if conferring an unspeakable honor.

"My faith is strong," Tartarus assured the Prophets, "I will _not_ fail." He pressed the Index to his chest, then rose.

But a dozen Infection Pods climbed over one of the balustrades ringing the platform. They skittered toward the aliens, and the Brutes threw aside their weapons to smash the pods with their bare feet and hands. However, one managed to get through their line. It leaped at the Prophet of Mercy and bore him down off his throne, earning a cry of pain and fear.

Tartarus made to help him, but Truth called, "Let him be." To the other San'Shyuum, he said, "The Great Journey waits for no one, brother. Not even you."

One by one, the aliens moved away from the dying Prophet, leaving him to struggle against the Flood alone.


	17. Fifteen: The Ultimate Power

AN: To celebrate the fact that I have FINALLY gotten through Path of Demons, quarantined readers can have a little extra chapter, as a treat. Also, be sure to vote in the poll on my profile; it's neck and neck right now.

* * *

Fifteen: The Ultimate Power

* * *

The Gravemind dropped the Arbiter on a cliff edge somewhere else on Installation Zero-Five. He rubbed his irritated wrists, glad to be free of the creature but unsure where it had left him, noting that he also still had the band that the god had given him. But at least the Flood thing had not left him unarmed; a fully-charged plasma rifle lay at his feet on a rock stained with blood. He scooped it up and headed into the brush before him, searching for the source of the blood.

He found his brethren slaughtered. Some of them were still alive, being tended to and guarded by a few Forerunners in a small camp near the cliff. When he went to one knee next to one of them, the other Sangheili managed to gasp out, "The Brutes have betrayed us. The Councilors..."

The Arbiter squeezed his mandibles in fury, and accepted the plasma sword that one of the Holy Ones handed him. When he ignited it, the blade was red - the color of rage. "It uses the energy of your motion to recharge its battery," said the Forerunner, "It will never run out of power, unless it breaks. Use it well."

He inclined his head to them, a gesture they returned, and he kept moving, swapping out his plasma pistols for a Brute shot and killing all of the Jiralhanae he came across. When he paused outside a Forerunner structure, a SpecOps Sangheili emerged from within and greeted him with a respectful bow before looking around. "By the Prophets," he murmured, "What have these Brutes done? They have shed our brothers' blood, and for that they must die."

Thel agreed and they both turned to go - when several drop pods fell out of the sky from ships being overrun by Brutes. "So much for a stealthy advance," the other grunted, but both of them were grateful for the support. They all entered the structure, where they found a cavern with Jackals chasing terrified Grunts on the upper levels while some Brutes laughed, their backs turned to the door.

The Arbiter ran them through with the Holy Ones' red sword, while the other Sangheili gunned for the Kig-Yar, rescuing the Unggoy and leading them on.

The next room had two levels, and they'd emerged on the upper one, the Jiralhanae and Kig-Yar on the floor below. Their plasma grenades were sufficient to slay the Brutes, and they took care of the Jackals personally, pausing to murmur a soft prayer for their fallen brothers, bodies discarded like they weren't even worth consuming. The following room was also multi-tiered, and they dropped down each successive level after firing and dropping grenades on the foes of the level below.

As they continued on, they found more bodies of their brothers, some of whom were known and recognized, earning cries of rage. But they did not let their anger rule them, instead honing it into a weapon as sharp and hot as their plasma swords, wielded on the next Brutes they came across. The Jiralhanae barely slowed their advance, there and when they emerged outside. A squad had waited in vain to kill them; instead they were themselves slain.

They followed the canyon beyond to a Brute Captain who proved cleverer than most of his kind. He kept them away with grenades from his Brute shot and was sparing with the rounds, forcing them to take cover behind the rocks.

He was not clever enough to take cover himself. One of the Forerunners shot him from afar with another of the black rifles, letting the Sangheili take the unmanned Ghosts nearby and race ahead through the canyons. Before long they had acquired more of the vehicles, enough for them all to be mounted. The Holy Ones themselves vanished soon after, but intuition told Thel that they had not gone far.

The Sangheili continued on in the same fashion until they reached the end of the path in two circular canyons, a waterfall pouring over the side of one. There were Brutes everywhere, along with two Wraiths harrying another small knot of survivors, including a gold-armored Field Marshal.

They moved to aid their brothers, the Forerunners reappearing shortly after. Were they the same ones as before or different? The Arbiter didn't know; most of them looked similar, and they all wore similar armor, the metallic green and black. But either way, all of them seemed to be allies, so did it really matter?

One of the Wraiths exploded under their combined fire, while a brave Minor ran out and hijacked the other, turning its fire on the Brutes guarding the tunnel out of the canyon. The blast door at the end of the tunnel let them out on the beach. As they ran across the smooth sand, a Wraith rounded a corner ahead and approached them. They halted and lifted their weapons, but just as it drew close, it deactivated, and - Rtas 'Vadumee emerged from inside. None of the Sangheili had ever been so happy to see the SpecOps Commander before. "By the Rings, Arbiter," he growled, noting their injuries, "The Councilors - are they -"

"_Murdered_, by the Brutes," Thel replied, mandibles set into a grim line.

"Vile, disloyal _beasts_," the SpecOps Sangheili snarled, slamming his fist down on the tank, "The Prophets were fools to trust them."

The Arbiter was about to explain that it was the Prophets who ordered it when a Phantom swooped overhead and stopped at the door of the Control Room. It deposited Tartarus, a few of his Brutes, and a human female on the platform, and they quickly proceeded inside.

* * *

The Spartans arrived on the launch platform just in time to see the last of the Phantoms take off from the tower, no doubt carrying their target. Fred let out a furious breath, then noticed movement. One of the two remaining Prophets had been abandoned on the tower platform to struggle against a lone Infection Pod, and he led the way over to it, the other Spartans following behind, weapons raised. "Your pal. Where's he going?" It was phrased as a question, but his tone brooked no argument.

"Earth," the Prophet gasped, voice triumphant even as he died, "To finish what we started. And this time, none of you will be left behind." He cried out in pain when Fred tugged the Infection pod off of his throat, and it popped in his grasp, causing him to make a face and wipe the slime off on Mercy's robes. The fight had taken the last of the Prophet's strength, because he breathed his last not long after.

Cortana materialized on Mercy's throne and said, "That structure in the center of the city - it's a _Forerunner ship_! And Truth is heading _straight_ for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance; you _have_ to stop him."

"That Brute has the Index, _and_ Miranda and Johnson," Jai interjected, "He can activate the ring."

"If he does, I'll detonate _In Amber Clad_'s reactor just like we did the _Autumn_'s. The blast will destroy this city _and_ the ring. Not a very _original_ plan, but we know it'll work." Fred reached for her, but she took a step back. "No. I don't want to chance a remote detonation. I need to stay here."

A Pelican - piloted very inexpertly - swerved over and crashed onto their platform, releasing an army of combat forms in their direction. A few of the Spartans cursed as they lifted their weapons and fired on the parasitic life form as it charged them.

_"Flood-controlled dropships are touching down all over the city,"_ Cortana told them over the COM, _"That creature beneath the Library - the Gravemind - used us. We were just a diversion. _In Amber Clad _was always its intended vector._

"_There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside; I'll lead you to it."_

The AI herself was already preparing countermeasures against the Gravemind, leaving stripped-down copies and personality spikes in every system that could hold them, hoping to keep it off her, at least for a little while. She also found the ship that carried her message and dropped it off in advance, knowing that at least John and his team would know to go looking for it.

Meanwhile, the Spartans bolted for the door leading into the tower, firing on the Covenant that came out. They entered the tower and charged across the room, where they were met by a pack of Brutes fighting Infected Elites and humans. They gunned down anything in front of them but ignored everything else unless it turned to pursue. They _had_ to hurry - they couldn't let Truth launch that ship without them onboard!

The two teams plowed into the next room, which was completely dominated by a gravity lift. _"Going up," _Cortana said, _"I'll disable this grav lift once you reach the top. That should slow them down."_

The next room was a cavernous space, the upper levels of the Mausoleum of the Arbiter. The walls up here were coated in glass - glass from destroyed worlds. The sight of it enraged the Spartans - how many of these were human worlds? How many of them _weren't_? How many planets had the Covenant run roughshod over before destroying them?

No more. _No. More._

A central platform descended from somewhere above to stop in the center of the chamber, level with their platform. Energy beams extended out from it, and gravity conveyors activated, carrying them from platform to platform around the edge of the room. They mowed through the Covenant and the Flood between them and Truth, halting only long enough to patch Kelly's suit when it was breached; there was no telling if they would need to go EVA in the near future, and no need to risk getting Flood spores in the wound.

The Flood was already starting to take root in the city, biomass and blister pods starting to grow on the walls, Infection Pods flinging themselves into everyone's midst. There were still some Sangheili survivors as well, and they seemed to have received Cortana's first message, too, because they fell in with the Demons without even a blink. When she got the chance, the AI in question directed the aliens to safe routes through the station, more Forerunners appearing to supplement the Spartans where they could and guide the Sangheili safely away.

The humans ignored the announcements coming over _High Charity_'s PA system - until the Gravemind came on to respond to Truth. **"Arrogant creature,"** it boomed, its voice magnified a thousand times, **"Your deaths will be instantaneous, while we shall suffer the progress of infinitude!"**

Cortana was saying something about the security systems in this part of the tower, but they couldn't pay attention to her. Their ears were filled with a strange pulsing sensation, not unlike the beating of a heart. The Gravemind? Was it influencing them somehow? But there was something fighting it - they could feel it trying to shield them.

Truth came over the PA system again. _"Who so ever is gripped by fear, take heed. I am the Prophet of Truth, and I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is here at my side, his wise counsel near to my ears."_

The Gravemind again, even more sinisterly: **"We exist **_**together**_** now; two corpses, in one grave."**

They packed themselves tightly together on an elevator of some kind, all of them just barely managing to fit, and Kelly bent an arm at a truly uncomfortable angle to activate it and send them soaring upward. _"These are the Prophet Hierarchs' private quarters," _Cortana told them as their minds began to clear, _"their inner sanctum."_ They were out of the worst of the Flood mist, now, but they were not out of the woods yet; they could hear arms fire as they spilled out onto a walkway, grateful to be free of the tight quarters on the elevator.

"Not too much further?" Fred half-asked as they started running again.

"_Not for you."_

The chambers had guards, of course, but the operative word was _had_; the Spartans killed them like they had killed everything else in their way and kept running. Some combat forms served themselves up for a shotgun shell to the chest, which the Spartans delivered gladly, sending limbs flying.

_"Almost there," _Cortana told them, _"Head through the door on your right and up the grav lift."_

Offensive Bias - now part of the fleet - was stalling the launch sequence, and reported to them all that there was a fragment of Mendicant Bias on board, the AI who betrayed the Forerunners. _He_ was the reason the Covenant had a prohibition against AIs, and yet they had been worshipping him as an Oracle for centuries. But even though he was a verified Forerunner ancilla, the other was fighting hard against him, trying to launch the _Anodyne Spirit_.

The Spartans flew out of the grav lift one after another and raced across the loading zone, ignoring the Flood and the Covenant until they reached the actual boarding area. There, those that weren't next in line for the conduit turned and engaged all enemies in sight, even as beam rifle shots whizzed past them from the Dreadnought. Fred was last, and Offensive Bias finally let go as he cleared the last accelerator, bidding Cortana farewell and jumping back to the _Last Fleet_.

There were a handful of Forerunners already waiting inside the cargo bay of the _Spirit_, armed and ready. Then, impossibly, Sergeant Smith's voice came over TEAMCOM. _"After I'm through with Truth…"_

_"Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it,"_ Cortana answered.

The _Spirit_ accelerated through the opening in _High Charity_'s ceiling, jumping to Slipspace the moment it reached the minimum safe distance from the dying station.

* * *

"What is that place?" the Arbiter asked Rtas, nodding at the Control Room of Halo.

The Sangheili Ultra followed his gaze. "Where the Councilors were meant to watch the consecration of the Icon," he answered, "The start of the Great Journey."

The Gravemind's words echoed in Thel's mind: **"There is still time to stop the key from turning."** "I must get inside," he told Rtas, and the other nodded.

"Then mount up, Arbiter. I know a way to break those doors." Rtas heaved himself out of the Wraith and let the Arbiter take over, jogging over to the Spectre that had just arrived and climbing into the gunner seat. The Spectre led the way through the canyons, and Thel followed behind, using the Wraith's main gun to destroy the Brutes trying to stop them. They threw Ghosts and Wraiths and even a Phantom up against the Elites, but it wasn't enough - especially not when some Forerunner fighters called Phaetons dropped through the clouds to zip along overhead. The single fighters were small but lethal against the Brutes and their allies.

All the while, the Arbiter wondered what Rtas could possibly have up his sleeve that could break down the doors of the Control Room - until he saw the legs of the Scarab.

Yep. That would do it.

"There, Arbiter," the SpecOps Commander called, "That Scarab's main gun will break the Control Room's door. At the far end of the beach there's a passage into the cliff. It'll take you up to the Scarab."

Thel steered the Wraith in the direction Rtas had indicated, the Phaetons flying ahead and destroying the two enemy Wraiths and all the ground troops in his way. When he hopped out, he waived his thanks, and the Phaetons rolled in reply, then soared off to provide support elsewhere.

'Vadumee spoke again: _"The Brutes control the cruiser, Arbiter. I'll remain here, make sure no reinforcements get in behind you. Then, I'm going to take the cruiser back!"_

The Sangheili acknowledged his words and entered through the blast door, drawing up short when he found himself nose-to-muzzle with a fuel rod gun. There were two Hunters guarding the door, and for a moment he feared that he would have to run back to the Wraith in order to fight them. But then someone cried, "The Arbiter? I thought he was dead! Hold your fire!"

The Mgalekgolo lowered their weapons, and a SpecOps Sangheili appeared from behind them, lowering his plasma rifles. "The Hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter," said the Elite, "They will fight by our side."

The Sangheili looked up at the two armored behemoths and said, "I am honored to have you with us."

The pair acknowledged his praise with a quiet rumble before following the two Elites into the next room and through the door, around a bend and out into the open floor of the chamber beyond. They all fired at the Brutes on the upper levels, the Hunters' fuel rod guns doing the most damage for obvious reasons.

Beyond the next door was a short tunnel that opened up into a wider cavern, and the path went U-shaped around the circumference. The Hunters proved just as valuable there, the charges from their guns arcing across the gap, their tough armor protecting them from the Brute shots while the Sangheili circled around to flank the enemy.

They sent Brutes flying and kept moving through another door to a bridge held by Jackals and Drones. A pair of grenades killed the Kig-Yar, and they filled the air with a haze of plasma to take out the Yam'ee. There wasn't anything that they could really do about the Phantom hovering next to the bridge, so they ducked through another hatch.

Not far beyond was a chamber serving as a prison for some surviving councilors and another pair of Hunters. "Free our brothers!" the SpecOps Sangheili shouted, "Death to the Brutes!"

Thel went straight for the cells and broke them open to let the prisoners join the battle. The Councilors quickly proved that their plasma swords were functional as well as ceremonial, putting the Brutes to the edge of the blade, and they all passed through one more large hall before emerging on the Scarab platform.

As they charged out into the open, they heard the Brutes talking about executing their prisoners. Rather than slay them as they originally would have done, the Elites freed the humans, and all of them turned their weapons on the Brutes, alongside the Forerunners on the cliff edge above.

Just as the Arbiter turned to board the Scarab, it activated on its own.

_"Listen,"_ Johnson growled, _"you don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you. But if we don't do something, Mister Mohawk's gonna activate this ring, and we're all gonna die."_

"Tartarus has locked himself inside the Control Room," the Sangheili answered.

_"Well, I just happen to have a key."_ The panels covering the Scarab's firing mechanism folded away, the emitter glowing a bright acid green. _"C'mon. Grab a Banshee and give me some cover. They're gonna know we're coming."_

The Scarab stamped away from the platform, though not before the Forerunners leaped across and landed on top. A pair of Banshees flew over, and one landed nearby, its pilot unhesitatingly offering it for the Arbiter's use. He took to the skies and joined the Phaetons, which had swooped back down out of the clouds to escort the Scarab as Johnson, Stacker, and Banks got it up to speed. The fighters moved ahead of the machine, destroying Wraiths and Ghosts and even a Phantom who tried to damage the Scarab.

Johnson chuckled as they drew near to the Control Room. "Hey! Bastard! Knock, knock!"

The great gun on the front of the Scarab began to charge as the protective panels folded away, and it released a long stream of plasma at the blast doors, the slag from the firing process dripping free to splatter on the beach and vitrify the sand under it.

The Phaetons broke away, letting Arbiter move in first. He flew straight up to the door and bailed out of the Banshee, not worrying in the slightest about any nearby enemies. Anyone unwise enough to stay close to the doors when Johnson had been incinerated - _if_ they were lucky. If not, then they were being cooked alive under the wreckage. There was another blast door just beyond all the destruction; it slid open at his approach. At the same time, another blast door on the far side of the room spilled a group of Brute Captains out into the antechamber, each carrying either a Brute shot or a carbine. But the Arbiter decided to be clever and activated his active camouflage to slip around and take them from behind.

* * *

"Come, human, it is easy," Tartarus growled, trying to coax Miranda into inserting the Index, "Take the Icon in your hands..." When she turned away yet again, he snarled furiously, slamming his hand down onto the console. "And do as you are told!"

From where he was tucked under another Brutes' arm, 343 Guilty Spark piped up, "Please, use caution! This Reclaimer is delicate."

"One more word, Oracle, and I'll rip your eye from its socket!" Tartarus snapped at the Monitor. He turned to Keyes and shoved her forward, making her grunt when she hit the control panel. "Which is nothing compared to what I'll do to _you_."

"Tartarus, stop."

The Chieftain gasped and whirled around, shocked to see the Arbiter standing between them and the doors, almost entirely unharmed. "Impossible!"

"Put down the Icon," the Sangheili said firmly.

"Put it down?" Tartarus' voice was filled with disbelief. "And _disobey_ the _Hierarchs_?"

"There are things about Halo even the Hierarchs do not understand."

The other Jiralhanae stepped forward menacingly, prepared to punish the Sangheili for daring to doubt the Prophets. Tartarus waved them off and growled, "Take care, Arbiter. What you say is heresy!"

"Is it?" he demanded, then turned to Spark. "Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?"

"Well, collectively, the seven-" Guilty Spark began, but Tartarus cut him off.

The Brute grabbed him and snarled into his optical sensor, "Not another word!"

"Please..."

Sergeant Johnson was now at the Arbiter's elbow, holding a beam rifle aimed at Tartarus's head. "Don't shake the light bulb." Tartarus's adjutants took a threatening step forward, but Johnson lifted the rifle into firing position, snapping, "If you wanna keep your brain inside your head, I'd tell those boys to chill."

The Chieftain gritted his teeth and barked the command in the Brutes' snarling language, forcing the others to stand down.

"Go ahead," Johnson said, nodding to the Arbiter but still keeping his weapon up, "Do your thing."

The Sangheili nodded back, then said to the Monitor, "The Sacred Rings, what are they?"

"Weapons of last resort, built by the Forerunners to eliminate potential Flood hosts, thereby rendering the parasite harmless," he answered in his usual cheerful tone.

"And those who made the rings?" the Arbiter prompted, "What happened to the Forerunners?"

"After exhausting every other strategic option, my creators activated the rings. They and all additional sentient life within three radii of the galactic center - _died_, as planned." Spark saw the Arbiter lower his head in sadness and seemed to realize that he had touched on a sensitive subject. "Would you... like to see the relevant data?"

"Tartarus," Thel said finally, "The Prophets have betrayed us."

Tartarus appeared temporarily frozen in disbelief, then he grabbed Spark and threw him at Johnson's head, knocking the man to the ground. Then he grabbed Miranda, pressed the Index into her hands, and forced her to insert it into the console. She reeled back in horror even as he released her to take up the Fist of Rukt.

"Now, Arbiter," the Jiralhanae snarled, energy shield spinning up around him, "the Great Journey has begun! And the _Brutes_, not the Elites, shall be the Prophets' escort!"

The ancient machinery groaned to life around them. The main platform split into three separate levels with a central current of energy acting like a gravity lift to tie the whole thing together. The Chieftain turned and leapt to the platforms, forcing the Arbiter, Johnson, and the recently arrived Sangheili and Forerunners to deal with his captains before following him to the platform. The Forerunners hung back on the main path, still wielding their long black rifles.

A single shot from one of them was enough to bring down Tartarus's energy shield by more than half, and the Sangheili raced to take advantage even as the now-free Monitor observed the firing procedure. "Charging sequence initiated," he said, "Primary generators coming online."

"Well, shut them down!" Miranda snapped at him as she took cover, one of the Forerunners moving forward to protect her, another serving as spotter for Johnson.

"Apology," Spark said, zooming past beyond the platforms, "Protocol does not allow me to interfere with any aspect of this sequence."

"Then how do I stop it?"

"Well, it will take some time to go over the proper procedures, I—"

"Quit stalling!"

"Under more controlled circumstances, I would suggest the Reclaimer simply remove the Index."

"That's it? Johnson, I'm on it!"

"Hang tight, ma'am!" the sergeant shouted back, "Not until that Brute is dead!"

His beam rifle took the Brute's shield down the rest of the way, but the Arbiter was not close enough to take advantage. Johnson and the Forerunners kept firing, and finally, Thel was able to run the Brute through with the Holy Ones' red blade.

Miranda reacted immediately and jumped onto one of the platforms spinning around the central three. She ducked to avoid another that whizzed perilously close overhead before leaping again, this time down onto the middle platform. She sprinted forward as fast as she possibly could and snatched the Index from the beam, letting out a breath of relief - just as the whole room began to shake.

Overhead, a built-up ball of energy fired skyward toward the focus of the circle the Halo formed, melding with a gathering ball of golden energy in the center and turning it a brilliant sky blue, right before it shrank and then exploded outward in a starburst of energy, temporarily throwing the darkness of space into brilliant light before fading into nothing.

* * *

Miranda stood before the hologram of tightly packed characters of incomprehensible gibberish, a Forerunner on either side of her. "What's this?" she asked them.

Before they could reply, they heard someone humming and turning to see Guilty Spark flying over to them, Johnson clinging to his casing. "A beacon," the Monitor replied.

"What's it doing?"

"Communicating a superluminal speeds with a frequency of-"

"Communicating with _what_?"

"The other installations."

"Show me," she ordered.

The Monitor expanded the hologram to show all seven of the Halo rings, one of them - Zero-Four - flashing an error message. "Failsafe protocol," Spark said, "In the event of unexpected shut down the entire system will move to stand-by status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation."

"Remote activation? From here?"

In a patronizing tone, "Don't be ridiculous!"

"Listen, Tinkerbelle, don't make me…" Johnson growled at him, but he trailed off when Keyes laid a hand on his shoulder to quiet him.

"Then where?" she asked, "Where would someone go to activate the other rings?"

Spark paused, seeming momentarily confused or searching his database. "Why, the Ark, of course."

"And where, Oracle," the Arbiter asked as he walked up behind them, "is that?"

* * *

The _Anodyne Spirit_ dropped out of Slipspace above Earth, where UNSC and Covenant ships were already engaging one another. Over an open UNSC channel, an officer's voice reached the Spartans. _"Sir, we've got a new contact, unknown classification!"_

The Spartans lifted their heads to listen.

_"It isn't one of ours,"_ Lord Hood came on the line, _"take it out."_

Shit! "This is SPARTAN-104, can anyone hear me? Over."

_"Isolate that signal!"_ Hood barked immediately, then asked, _"Master Chief? You mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?"_

"Sir, finishing this fight."

* * *

_High Charity_, once the crown of the Covenant empire, was now a hive infested with Flood, a world of no hope for any still left on board. The air was filled Flood spores, swirling into every crevice and dropping visibility to practically zero.

But it was not silent; a broken door kept trying to shut deep within the inner sanctum, the rhythmic banging of it hitting the bulkhead echoing through the empty halls.

**"Silence fills the empty grave, now that I have gone..."**

The voice echoed within the silence of the Council Hall, seemingly a thousand times more malicious than usual.

**"...but my mind is not at rest, for questions linger on."**

Cortana sensed the approach of her warden and materialized on the holopanel. It had taken it a lot longer to find her, chewing through the data-stripped copies she had scattered through the station.

"_**I**_** will ask, and **_**you**_** will answer."**

She shoved away the tentacle that reached for her and smirked. "All right. Shoot."


	18. Sixteen: Revenge and Determination

Sixteen: Revenge and Determination

* * *

It didn't take the Spartans and Forerunners long to clear the immediate area of Brutes and their allies. They swept the nearest rooms twice to be sure, then the humans took a moment to breathe while the aliens stood guard.

Well, most of them did. One of the others approached them and laid down their lightrifle, then turned their helm transparent so the Spartans could see their face.

_His_ face; this Forerunner was male, or looked to be anyway. He was short too, about their height, and seemed _incredibly_ familiar.

It was Linda who recognized him first. She shot to her feet and gasped, _"Lieutenant Night?!"_

The others rocketed upright as well, but he just smiled. "Hey, guys. Long time, no see. Can I look you over, or is this too much too fast?"

Kelly eyed him for a long moment, then stepped forward and turned, lifting an arm so he could get at her injured side. "Ambrose Night isn't really your name, is it."

"Close. It's Ambience-of-Night. I'm actually a Forerunner, but I _am_ a medic. We call ourselves Lifeworkers." He carefully peeled back the patch on her techsuit and the biofoam underneath. "And these are Sharp-Wind-from-the-North, Shattered-Shields, Sight-in-Darkness, and River-of-Stars."

"Call me Sharp."

"Shields."

"Dark."

"Stars is fine."

"They're all Warrior-Servants - soldiers," Ambi explained, then gestured to the remaining Forerunner, "And this is Lightness-of-Being, another Lifeworker like me."

"It's an honor to meet you. Please, call me Lightness," she said, her voice gentle like Ambi's, "Is there anyone else who's injured?"

After a moment, Adriana stepped forward and held out her left arm. A quick scan from the Forerunner's armor confirmed that she had torn a muscle or two in the fighting, but the Lifeworker took care of it without even removing the Spartan's armor. Kelly's side was cleaned and sealed up in less than thirty seconds, and Ambi patched her armor as well, smearing what looked like black tar in the gap - until it rippled before their eyes and became just another segment of the techsuit, smooth and unbroken.

"Give it a minute to set, but after that you'll be good to go," Ambi told her, standing up and taking a step back. He tilted his head up. "Commander, we're ready."

"_Good to hear."_ Smith again, though it seemed that "John Smith" really _was_ a fake name. _"Mendicant Bias, Beggar after Knowledge, can you hear my voice?"_

Another voice came over the COM, smooth and genderless. _"I hear you. You are the commander of the _Fleet of Shadows_."_

"_It's Supreme Commander now,"_ the man replied, _"The Ur-Didact died with the Firing, and the Iso-Didact passed the title on to me before the Exodus. We are all that remains of the First and Second Ecumenes. But that is not important. There is a San'Shyuum on board the _Anodyne Spirit_; it should only be the one. Will you guide the humans and Forerunners to him?"_

"_I hear and obey,"_ the ancilla answered, so at odds with their last interaction before the Cataclysm.

The Spartan's HUDs flickered briefly, before a nav point appeared some distance away in the ship, with another closer one leading out into the hall. They lifted their weapons and led the way out into the ship proper. As they went, the nearer nav point continued moving on ahead, leading them to an internal lift. Before they descended, Shields keyed open a concealed side hatch, revealing a small armory of Forerunner weapons.

"_Precursors_, these things are old," Dark said, "Are they even compatible with our models?"

"That's what we're going to find out." Shields ejected an empty clip from her rifle - which the Spartan's HUDs registered as a Z-750 Binary Rifle - and slapped a new one home. "With the Commander's luck, it shouldn't even be a problem."

After a moment, she nodded and said, "We're good. Load up."

The Forerunners took as much ammo as they could carry, and gave the Spartans a quick tutorial on anything they cared to take for themselves. Then they stepped onto the lift, and it carried them down several levels. _"Apologies,"_ Mendicant Bias sighed in their ears, _"but the San'Shyuum's position is not fixed. Be advised that intel will not always be current; I will update as I can."_

"Acknowledged," said Sharp, "Thank you, Mendicant."

"San'Shyuum?" Mike asked, pitching a pulse grenade down the hall ahead and into a knot of Covenant.

"The formal name for their species, like how the Elites are Sangheili, the Grunts are Unggoy." Ambi huffed out a short laugh. "It's ironic. Believe it or not, but a hundred thousand years ago, the San'Shyuum were humanity's _allies_ in your war against _us_."

"_No._"

"I tell you yes."

"Then how did we all end up like this?"

"The only constant in the universe is change. But even _we_ don't know the full story, not yet, though we hope to find out very soon. If we can capture Truth and interrogate him, we may get an answer."

Mendicant Bias directed them through a transport bay; there was a Phantom docked inside, with swarms of Covenant all around. The Spartans and Forerunners killed them as quickly as possible and jumped down to the lowest deck, then headed through a hatch towards the Prophet.

The Forerunner ancilla came over the COM again as the humans and their allies fired down another hall at a trio of Brute Captains trying to charge them. _"If I may make a suggestion."_

"Go ahead, Mendicant."

"_With only a small deflection off the present direct course, you will arrive at the central security station. It can give you real-time locations of everyone on the ship, more accurately than I can do so at present. I am only a fragment of a greater whole and so do not have my full strength and skill."_

"Thank you - Mendicant Bias, is it?" Fred said, half questioning.

"_Affirmative."_

"Thank you. Go ahead with directions to the station."

Another nav point appeared on their HUDs, this one much closer than Truth's. Of course there were a shitton of Covenant in their way, but they were no more of a challenge for seven Spartans and a handful of Forerunners than they had been for one. But as they advanced towards the security station, Truth moved further away, deeper into the ship, meaning it would take longer for them to reach him even when they did know where he was.

They pressed on. The live locations of everyone on the ship would make up for any inconvenience.

There were Brutes in the security center, but they didn't seem to know what it was any more than the Spartans would have if Mendicant had not told them. When all the enemy aliens in the room were dead, the ancilla directed them to the central console and walked them through opening up the system.

At the center of the chamber, a hologram of the _Anodyne Spirit_ appeared, with dots moving all throughout. Most of the dots were red, but theirs were blue - and Truth's was gold. _"The San'Shyuum and his escorts appear to be making their way to the bridge,"_ the ancilla reported, _"although they are taking a very circuitous route."_

"Can we get there faster?"

"_Affirmative. There are three possible routes."_

"We'll split up to maximize our chances. Blue Team will go one route, Gray Team the second, and the rest of you the third. But someone will have to stay here and keep an eye on this in case Truth changes course."

"I will do it," said Lightness, "I am trained in combat, but I do not truly have the heart for it; I fear I will slow you down, or worse, become a liability."

"I will remain here," said River-of-Stars, "let nothing pass."

That seemed to amuse the Forerunners for some reason, but they split up to head to the bridge. As they ran, the Spartans received another call from Earth. "Blue Team receiving. This is Sierra One-Oh-Four, over."

"_Affirmative, Sierra One-Oh-Four. Lord Hood is requesting a status update, over."_

"En route to the bridge of the Forerunner vessel. A Covenant Prophet is on board, exact location unknown but also en route to the bridge. Also be advised, we have friendly Forerunners on board."

"_Say again, Sierra One-Oh-Four. Sounded like you said 'friendly Forerunners'. Over."_

"Affirmative copy, over."

"_Uh… acknowledged, One-Oh-Four. Stand by."_

"_The xenos are gonna have a field day with this,"_ said Adriana.

"_We will gladly talk to your scientists - within reason of course,"_ Lightness replied, _"We all have secrets to keep. Four Jiralhanae and sixteen Unggoy around the next bend, Gray Team."_

"_Acknowledged."_

* * *

Truth changed direction, because of course nothing could ever be that easy. One of the Brutes seemed to have reported in, saying that the Spartans were moving to intercept him, or so Mendicant Bias reported back. "Just keep us pointed in his direction," Fred said.

"_Acknowledged," _said the ancilla, _"but be advised, the _Anodyne Spirit_ is preparing for atmospheric entry, destination-"_ He said a word they didn't know.

"_Africa,"_ Ambi translated, _"Specifically east Africa. They're going for the Portal Generator. That's behind enemy lines - there are going to be thousands of Covenant coming aboard. We need to get off this ship."_

"The Portal Generator?" Kelly repeated, "Is that exactly what it sounds like?"

"_Indeed. The Librarian had it built here a hundred thousand years ago, in order to save humanity from the Flood. Although I imagine she thought _you _would be the ones to use it, not this - _false Prophet_. Mendicant, reroute. Direct us all to the closest airlocks, please. Commander, are you there?"_

"_Affirmative."_

"_We need extraction. Truth's going in sooner than expected."_

"_Acknowledged, but I don't know if we'll be able to evac all of you in time. Prepare for EV atmospheric entry just in case."_

The Spartans automatically flashed an acknowledgement - and received one in return, much to their surprise. Their nav points changed, and they followed them to another transport bay, killing all the Covenant in their way. As they went, another voice came over the COM. _"This is Forerunner ancilla Ironheart of the FoS _Out of Shadow_, inbound for _Anodyne Spirit_. FoS personnel, Gray Team, Blue Team, prepare for extraction."_

But even as she spoke, the UNSC came over another channel to warn them that a MAC platform was going to be firing on a Covenant cruiser near their position. The debris field would be _huge_, which would make it extremely difficult for the stealth corvette to extract them; it was bigger and tougher than any UNSC corvette, but large enough pieces could still batter them quite harshly.

And there certainly were big enough pieces; unlike the other two teams, Blue Team emerged on the side of the ship nearest the firing and saw the MAC gun destroy the _Harbinger of Piety_.

"_Out of Shadow_, be advised, Blue Team is attempting EV entry; no need for extraction."

"_Acknowledged, Blue Leader. We've already picked up our team; en route to Gray Team's position. Good luck. See you on the surface."_

* * *

You asked me once, what happened to those who vanished?  
You asked me, why did we survive where our fathers fell?  
You wished to know how we ever let it happen –  
A scourge that consumed the galaxy,  
And the cure that was worse than the cancer.  
You asked me once about my intent,  
And the spot that would not wash out.  
I promise you the answers lie in the Ark.  
Find me there in the dark,  
For that is where I abide.


	19. Seventeen: Protector of the Ashen Moon

Seventeen: Protector of the Ashen Moon

* * *

John saw them jump, one right after the other. The _Perfect Storm_ was standing off at lunar orbit, gunning for any and all Covenant ships that broke away to strike at the rest of the Sol System. He didn't remember any of them coming back around and going through the Portal, so he didn't let their destruction trouble him; they wouldn't shift the course from what they knew.

Yet as he watched Blue Team fall towards Earth, one of Cortana's copies found its way to him and whispered in his ear.

_They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave, a natural leader. But you had something they didn't, something no one saw but me._

_Can you guess?_

_Luck._

_Was I wrong?_

* * *

With a soft "fwssh," Johnson struck a match and lit his cigar, back turned on one of the very people they'd been looking for after Truth's dreadnought landed. The Marines who had come with him – and a pair of Forerunners – were crouched or standing a short distance away from the Spartan lying frozen in the muck, watching as if they were expecting him to get up on his own.

One of the Forerunners was kneeling at his side. He held a hand over the Spartan, his armor running scans in small fans of light, with different colors for each pass. The Forerunner wasn't reacting one way or another, which was leading the Marines to talk.

"This ain't good."

"Damn. How far did he fall?"

"Two kilometers, easy."

All right, enough. Johnson turned and growled, "Stay sharp."

All of the Marines lifted their weapons and started sweeping the area, making sure it stayed clear. Johnson paced over to stand next to the Forerunner. "What's the damage?"

"He's reasonably all right," Ambience reported, "just unconscious. Looks like the gel layer took most of the impact, but I'm not sure when he'll wake up. And I don't want to give him one of our stims; they're engineered for _us_. I don't know what they'd do to a Spartan, but they would _certainly_ be fatal to ordinary humans." He flipped his hand so that it was palm up now, and a small holopanel appeared over it. He keyed in something, and Fred's armor relaxed.

Johnson nodded and knelt to pull Cortana's chip from his helmet. Then he looked to one of the other Marines. "Radio for VTOL," he said, "Heavy lift gear. We can't wait around for him to wake up, but we're sure as hell not leaving him here."

"Yeah, you're not."

Ambience reached down to grab one of Fred's extended hands while Johnson grabbed the other, and the two of them heaved the Spartan to his feet. He wobbled for a second but stayed standing.

"Crazy fool," the sergeant said with only a little heat, thumping him on the chestplate, "Why do you always _jump_? One of these days you're gonna _land _on somethin' as stubborn as you are, and I don't do _bits and pieces_."

Fred saw what Johnson was holding and gently plucked the AI cartridge from Johnson's fingers. "Where is she, Chief?" the man asked, "Where's Cortana?"

Another copy slipped through to whisper, _"Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it."_

"She stayed behind." Fred slotted the chip back in, then looked to Ambi, who keyed something else in on his holopanel. The MJOLNIR relaxed the rest of the way, letting him stretch his legs before he looked to the Lifeworker. "Blue Team?"

"The others are looking for Linda and Sam now," he reported, "They dropped in not far away. Lightness and Shields are with Kelly. She landed wrong, shattered a hip and part of her pelvis, but she'll be all right. They'll meet us on the way in."

Fred nodded in acknowledgement - only to see a Sangheili in silver armor appear at the edge of the crater he'd made. He reacted on instinct, going for Johnson's sidearm, but the other Forerunner - River-of-Stars - was suddenly there, gripping his wrist, holding him back.

"It's alright, Chief! The Arbiter's with us." When the Spartan didn't relax, Johnson said, "Come on now. We've got enough to worry about without you two trying to kill each other."

Stars released Fred, who relaxed reluctantly.

"Were it so easy," the Arbiter said to Johnson, "We must go; the Brutes have our scent."

"Then they must love the smell of badass," Johnson replied, and handed the Spartan an assault rifle and sidearm. "And I left a little present for you, Arbiter, and I'm walking away." The man laughed briefly, then sobered again. "First squad, you're my scouts. Move out, quiet as you can."

The group avoided the hole that the Spartan had punched through the canopy when he fell, keeping to the cover of the trees. Both Ambi and Stars shimmered and vanished completely, their active camo far better than the Covenant's, but the others could still track them by their footprints in the soft soil. They took point and moved ahead, following the path and John's memories through the jungle.

As they emerged from a short canyon, someone signaled for their group's attention. _"We've got Sam-034 on top of the waterfall,"_ said Sharp, _"Give us a minute; he's coming around."_

After a short while, the Forerunners jumped down, the Spartan right behind them, and Ambi gave him a quick scan and declared him fit for battle. Around the next bend was a band of Covenant, where they acquired weapons for him since he had lost his during the insertion. But the aliens hadn't gone down easy, which lead one of the Marines to comment, "These Brutes are tough."

"The Grunts ain't no slouches, either," one of the others added.

"The Grunts' new-found courage is but fear," the Arbiter assured them, "When we are victorious, all who serve the Prophets shall be punished."

They followed him and the Forerunners into the tunnels ahead, emerging back out into the jungle beyond. There were sleeping Grunts and their Brute commanders waiting for them, and rather than get shot at, the Spartans drew their knives and got to work on the sleepers. But they were spotted by a trio on patrol, who promptly raised the alarm by shouting, "Demons!" and fleeing in fear.

The Spartans switched back to their guns and fought their way up the ridge and around the bend. As they advanced, Johnson came over the COM. _"Pelicans are on-route, Spartans, but I can't raise Bravo. Find 'em, get 'em to the extraction point."_

Fred acknowledged him right as they came across a Brute holding a Marine by the throat, the alien and his allies standing on a stone bridge out in the open.

It was a shot that had to be taken, but someone else beat them to it. There was the now-familiar crack of a binary rifle, and the Brute dropped, body dissolving. Linda and Shields jumped to the jungle floor and joined the others in gunning for the surviving Grunts, while Dark and Lightness helped Kelly gingerly down. She was on her feet and walking, but she was visibly limping; even though she had been healed, she was still very tender.

The group formed up around her and let her set their pace. They circled around to cross the bridge, scattering the remaining flakes of the Brute, and ducked under an exposed pipe. More Covenant spilled from a tunnel heading into the cliff face beyond, their Brute leader shouting, "Focus all fire on the Demons!"

"Since when has that ever worked?" Sharp said sarcastically before adding his fire to the others'. When they were dead, the Spartans and their allies moved forward into the tunnels, a few flares letting them see in the dark, and they dropped down to a lower tunnel -

Another of Cortana's copies slipped in. _"Could you sacrifice me for the sake of your mission?"_ she whispered, her avatar splintered across their HUDs, _"Could you watch me die?"_ Then she seemed to fall to the ground and disappeared.

"Sir," one of the Marines asked, appearing at Fred's elbow, "You okay?"

"Your vitals just pinged KIA," another added, but the Spartans waved them off and kept moving.

They exited the tunnel just beyond a substation at the edge of the river. Johnson came over the radio again. "_Pelicans are at the river. We got company, so hustle up."_

The group moved double time down the slope, scooping up abandoned grenades and hurling them into the Covenant's midst to send bodies and body parts flying. But as they rushed to eliminate the enemy aliens, to give the Pelicans a safe LZ, a pair of Banshees swooped over the ridge behind them and started firing. Fred heard Johnson shouting for the pilot to get a hold of the dropship, but the other man responded, _"Negative, we're going down!"_

One of the birds exploded, and the other went down over the edge of the waterfall. They felt the ground shake as it hit. The Forerunners with binary rifles shot down the Banshees, but even so, the Arbiter said, "More will follow. Quickly - back into the jungle."

He was already heading across to the other part of the substation, where more Covenant lay in wait. The Spartans pitched grenades up over the pipes that they were taking cover behind, driving them out for the Arbiter and the Forerunners to fire on. When the last Brute fell off the edge and went plunging down to the rocks below, they dove back into the trees.

Beyond the substation and a stretch of pipe above their heads was a sniper alley, where a handful of Jackals with beam rifles and carbines were waiting for them. Linda had been furnished with a binary rifle to replace the one she'd lost on Zero-Five, and with a boost from Shields, she climbed one of the trees to shoot them through the leaves. One by one they hit the ground, letting their party continue their advance.

Johnson came over the COM once more; they were glad to know he was still alive. _"Chief, can you hear me?"_ His voice cut in and out through the static on the line. _"My bird's down... half a klik downriver from your position."_

The Covenant must have been closing in. They picked up the pace.

Beyond the sniper alley was a loop in the path and a drop off, along with more foes. They were chasing Johnson's group across a steel bridge and deeper into the jungle, away from the edge. _"C'mon, you dumb apes!"_ the man called, _"You want breakfast? You gotta catch it!"_ The humans retreated deeper into the trees as the Spartans, the Arbiter, and their Marines and Forerunners moved up behind.

The moment they rounded the bend to follow the Sergeant, they were able to see the crashed Pelican on a cliff side, half on, half off of the rock, and Linda claimed the SRS99 in the wreckage, along with all the ammo she could carry, having run out on the binary rifle. Sharp took it back and just carried it, favoring his lightrifle. Then they all ran to follow the other squad.

"Commander, Johnson?" Ambience asked.

_"They're headed for the dam,"_ was the reply, _"_Siren Song_ is in orbit not too far away. It's not looking good."_

"How far from us?"

_"Sixty, seventy meters as the crow flies."_

"Understood."

"Let's move," said Fred, and he jogged into the tunnel ahead, red flares lighting the way.

They emerged onto a ridge above the dam, covered in shadows from the canopy. The brush afforded them excellent cover, so that they could see but not be seen by the Unggoy or Kig-Yar somewhere below or the Jiralhanae patrolling the far side. The Arbiter pointed, and they followed his line of sight. "See how they bait their trap?"

A Brute chieftain with a gravity hammer forced Johnson back a step and roared at him. The human didn't seem the slightest bit fazed and tried to punch him. It did nothing, and he was knocked backwards into the building where prisoners were being held.

"I will help you spring him."

Linda immediately set up shop and started picking targets, and Stars went to one knee partially behind a tree to join her. The other Spartans continued down towards the main dam station and started fighting the Covenant on the near side of the river, leaving the others on the far side to the sniper.

There were half a dozen Brutes and twice as many Grunts in their way, with an odd Jackal here and there. The humans and their allies mowed through them with guns and grenades and at least one occasion where Shattered-Shields simply grabbed a Grunt in each hand, turned, and hurled them over the edge of the dam. Sam snorted softly when he saw, and then started doing the same.

'This bitch empty! YEET!'

[That is _so old_.]

'Then why are you laughing, Commander?'

The path was essentially clear once they crossed the dam thanks to the snipers. Fred ducked into the jerry-rigged prison and cut the power to the barricade, freeing Johnson and the other Marines.

But as they emerged, two Phantoms swooped in to drop off more Brutes and Grunts on their side of the river and on the dam itself. They weren't truly a challenge, pinned between fire from both sides of the river, but the layout of the dam and the cargo modules scattered throughout made the fight more chaotic than the Spartans liked.

When their evac arrived, Johnson called, "Hocus! Phantom!"

_"I see 'em," _the pilot replied, _"Stand by."_

There was a hum as she spun up her missile launchers. It only took a few salvos to destroy each of the enemy transports, and Hocus swung her Pelican around on the spine of the dam to let them board. Linda and Stars were the last to hop aboard, having come from the very edge of the jungle on the far side of the river, but they all made it aboard and set off for home base.

* * *

_"IFF confirmed, contact is Pelican dropship Kilo-Two-Three, over."_

_"Roger that, what's the word, Kilo-Two-Three?"_

_"Blue Team is on board. Request priority clearance, over."_

_"It's yours. Come on down."_

Hocus set them down on the landing pad and powered down the Pelican, even as the radio operator continued, _"Sorry for the tight squeeze. Tell the Commander her aces are in the hole."_

The Spartans disembarked to find that there were a number of Forerunners in the area, most of them Lifeworkers like Ambi and Lightness, tending the wounded with thin probes extending from their bulkier armor like metal tentacles. The probes gently poked and prodded at gashes and broken bones, and the wounds sealed up an inch at a time before their very eyes.

There were still some who were waiting to be seen, less severely injured than some, and the new arrivals heard them talking as they approached.

"Hey. Check it out."

"No way. Spartans?!"

A temporarily blinded Marine jerked his head up and peered around, trying to see. "For real? You better not be-"

"No, man, they're here! We're gonna be alright!"

A few of the Forerunners smiled to themselves, then refocused their attention as Commander Keyes approached. The UNSC personnel saluted her, which she returned, while the Forerunners bowed respectfully. "Where did you find them?"

"Napping, out back."

"I'll bet." She stepped forward and shook all of the Spartans' hands. "It's good to see you, Blue Team."

"Likewise, ma'am," Fred answered for all of them.

"Let's get you up to speed." She led the way into the base, explaining that the Forerunners had picked her, Johnson, and the Arbiter up in the _Ring of Winter_, along with all the other surviving humans and Sangheili they could find, and brought them all to Earth in pursuit of Truth. They had arrived only a few hours ahead. Then, when he himself finally arrived in the _Anodyne Spirit_ with his fleet of more than five hundred ships - "The Prophet of Truth's ships breached the lunar perimeter. _Smashed_ what was left of the home fleet. The _Fleet of Shadows _has been doing what they can, but they only have so many ships. Terrestrial casualties from the subsequent bombardment were-"

They all jumped out of the way when two Marines raced by with a third groaning on a gurney. Lightness turned and ran alongside them, probes already unfolding from her armor.

"...extreme," Keyes finished.

Johnson and Ambi knelt next to one of more than a dozen injured soldiers sitting in the hall. The sergeant rested a sympathetic hand on the man's shoulder while the Forerunner scanned him, then let his own probes unfold to start healing.

"Truth could have landed anywhere," Miranda continued, watching, "but he committed all his forces here, east Africa, the ruins of New Mombasa. Then, they started _digging_."

"What about Halo?" Fred asked as they left the Forerunners to it, entering the base's command center.

All of the Spartans raised their eyebrows at the sight of a harried-looking Doctor Halsey hunched over one of the displays, typing furiously and muttering under her breath.

"We stopped it," Miranda replied, lifting their spirits until she continued, "but only temporarily. Now the Prophet of Truth is looking for '_the Ark_,' where he'll be able to fire _all_ the Halo rings. If he succeeds… humanity, the Covenant, every sentient being in the galaxy…"

"The rings will kill us all."

"Ma'am? I have Lord Hood," one of the COMs officers informed them.

"Patch him through."

The elderly officer appeared on the vidscreen. _"Good news, Commander Keyes?"_

"As good as it gets, sir," she answered with a faint smile.

_"So I see. What's your status, Spartans?"_

"Green, sir."

_"Glad to hear it. The Commander's come up with a bold plan, but without a few more of you, I wasn't sure we could pull it off."_

"Truth's ships are clustered above the excavation site," Miranda told them, "and his infantry has deployed anti-aircraft batteries around the perimeter. _But_ if we neutralize one of the batteries, punch a hole in Truth's defenses…"

_"I'll initiate a low-level strike, hit 'em right where it hurts. Even with the Forerunners, we only have a handful of ships, Master Chief. It's a big risk, but I'm confident-"_

The power went down without warning. The Spartans all jumped, automatically going for their weapons, then relaxed reluctantly even as Keyes called for the emergency generators. One of the officers said they were down, and she responded, "As soon as they're up, reestablish contact with Lord Hood, let him know that-"

All of the screens snapped back to life, all bearing the same image - an image no one wanted to see. _"You are _all of you _vermin__,"_ Truth said zealously, _"cowering in the dirt, thinking - _what_, I wonder? That you might escape the coming _fire_? No, your world will _burn_ until its surface is but _glass_, and not even your _Demons_ will live to creep, blackened, from their holes to marr the reflection of our passage. The culmination of our journey - for _your destruction_ \- is the will of the _gods_! And I? I _am_ their _instrument_!"_

_"Fuck. Off."_ Sharp growled, not that Truth could hear him, but everyone else did. Some of them smiled, though only for a moment.

The power came back online with a hum. Johnson shoved his cigar back between his teeth. "Cocky bastard just _loves _to run his mouth."

"Does he usually mention us?" Fred asked Keyes.

She paused for a second, then said, "Give the order, we're closing shop."

"Ma'am?"

"We're about to get _hit_."

The officer did as ordered, getting on the COM. "All personnel, defense code alpha-one; prepare for immediate evacuation."

"The wounded," Miranda said to the Spartans and Forerunners, "We're getting all of them out."

"If I have to carry 'em myself," Johnson affirmed.

"Ma'am, squad leaders are requesting a rally point," the COMs officer said, "Where should they go?"

She pulled the slide back on her pistol, then released it, chambering a round. "To war."

The Forerunners lifted their heads, listening. Then Shields turned to Keyes and said, "Our Commander wants you to know that he can have _Reborn from Ashes_ and _Windchaser_ overhead in fifteen minutes. They can't really handle a heavyweight fight - they're just frigates - but their infirmaries are big enough to treat everyone here, and they're quick enough that they can fall back to _Gift of Life_, one of our supercarriers, and get the wounded out of the line of fire."

Miranda smiled in gratitude. "That would be perfect. Thanks."

Shields nodded, right before a security officer said, "We just lost the perimeter cameras."

"Motion trackers?"

"Either they're down, or we're not receiving."

"Any of our birds squawking?"

"No, nothing. - Wait. Overwatch has contacts. Phantoms closing in on our position."

"Any birds less than five minutes out, bring them in. Tell everything else to scatter." Keyes looked to the Forerunners. "Any more miracles you can pull out for us?"

"Maybe not in terms of immediate transportation - it's not safe to move wounded through our portal network. _But_… Ironheart, do any of our stealth corvettes have visuals on Crow's Nest?"

_"_Out of Shadow_ can be in position in sixty seconds."_

"That would be helpful, thank you. Route visuals directly to Crow's Nest until control center abandonment, then switch to verbal notify."

_"Acknowledged."_

Keyes nodded. "Thanks. All right people, we knew they'd find us eventually. We have a plan; let's make it happen."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Arbiter and I will guard the Ops Center," Johnson told the Spartans, "Don't worry about the Commander, you lot. I got her. But the Marines downstairs could use your help."

Blue Team all nodded and headed down the stairwell with Sharp and Dark, picking up weapons on the way. Beyond a blast door was a cavern that had been converted for military use, and Gunnery Sergeant Stacker was there giving advice to his soldiers.

The ancilla Ironheart came over the COM unexpectedly. _"Crow's Nest, brace for impact,"_ she said, right before an explosion somewhere sent shudders through the base. "_Point of entry: hangar. Phantoms inbound."_ She snapped off again and left them all to it.

The Spartans hurried through the halls, killing all the Covenant in their way, including a last-ditch effort by a group of Jackals to stop them entering the hangar. They failed, and the Spartans split up to cover both doors. The sight of four fully-armored, fully-armed Spartans charging into the hangar sent the Grunts into fits of terror, and Linda killed half of them herself, nailing them one after the other with her battle rifle.

But the fight wasn't over the moment they had the hangar cleared, however. A pair of Phantoms swooped in, dropping off a band of Brutes and a few Grunts. Linda headed up to the skybox, and Fred and Sam manned machine gun turrets set up in the corners, letting Kelly play rabbit while the Marines guarded their sides.

They cleared the hangar with time to spare, and Fred was deciding where to go from there when Johnson came over the COM. _"Spartans, Ops Center. Double time! The Brutes are pressing hard."_

Linda stayed in the skybox while the other three went back the way they had come. When they arrived at the motor pool, they found a pair of Marines looking skyward at the ventilation system. There were alarming rattling and banging sounds coming from the pipes.

Once again, the Forerunners were there for them. _"All personnel, be advised: Yam'ee - Drones - are in the air conditioning ducts. Report all exit points,"_ said Shields,_ "Also: anyone in the barracks, the Commander needs a sitrep, _now_."_

Blue Team had just reentered the cavern beyond the Ops Center when a broken duct fell to the ground below, releasing more than two dozen Drones into the cavern. The Spartans took point and fired on them, focusing on where they were emerging from the ventilation first, then focusing on those who got through their fields of fire. They got the job done and reentered the Ops Center. When she spotted the Spartans, Commander Keyes said, _"Spartans, have a look. A little going-away gift for the Covenant. We've linked it to smaller charges throughout the base. Johnson, soon as the evacuation is complete, start the timer."_

"Understood," the Sergeant Major replied.

_"Good luck everyone,"_ said Keyes,_ "See you on the last Pelican out." _The screen blanked out, then the UNSC logo appeared.

Johnson directed them to a door at the back of the Ops Center. "Brutes have taken the barracks," he told them, "Marines are trapped inside. Those apes ain't much for mercy, Spartans. We both know what they do to prisoners. Get to the barracks, save those men. Then escort them to the landing pad for evac."

The Forerunners came with them this time, chivvying Doctor Halsey along with them despite her protests. "I need to secure the base's data!"

"Any one of our ancillae can copy it over and scrub the systems," Shields told her, "but they cannot duplicate your brain, Doctor. You are still needed, preferably alive."

Both Halsey and Lightness hung back with Dark while the Spartans cleared the path ahead, the Warrior-Servant shielding both women as the others darted around to avoid the Brute chieftain with the gravity hammer. Sam claimed the weapon after the alien fell and took point to avoid whacking any of the others.

The corridor that the Brute pack had been guarding had caved in at the far end, but, with Dark carrying Halsey, they dropped down a shaft into another tunnel just as another Cortana slipped in. _"You have been called upon to serve_," it whispered before fading away.

"Cortana, what was _that?_" Halsey asked as they continued down the tunnel, "That's never happened before."

"Lady - that is, Miss Cortana isn't here, Doctor. She's on _High Charity_," said Ambience, "The enemy Gravemind is there as well; she seems to be spinning off stripped-down copies to protect herself. Some of them are slipping through to us all, although how is unknown."

"She's with the _Flood?_ And you _left her there?_" Halsey looked around at the Spartans, alarmed.

"She insisted," Fred replied, "A failsafe against Zero-Five being activated. But we didn't know about the Gravemind until just now. We'll get her back, Doctor. I promise."

The scientist pursed her lips, then sighed. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Frederic."

The group continued on, dropping down a second time to find the Arbiter shooting at a couple of Yam'ee and shouting, "_Half-wit insects!_ The Prophets use you like they used me! Reject their lies! _Rebel!_ Or _all_ your hives will perish!"

Dark set Halsey down, and they all jogged over to meet the Sangheili. He heard and turned, then recognized them and lowered his weapons just slightly. "Spartans, the Brutes have taken your soldiers. As prisoners or meat for their bellies, I do not know. In case some yet live, let us be careful when we shoot."

Fred nodded in agreement, and Sam led the way through the door to the barracks. Just as it opened, a Marine came flying into view, hit a pillar directly in front of them, and died instantly, tumbling limply to land on several others. The Spartans hissed softly and hurried further in, noting that there was still at least one living Marine. Shields dropped to one knee and put a binary rifle round clean through the skull of the Brute holding him. The alien fell, dissolving, freeing the human, and Blue Team swept in to clean up the rest.

The Marine scooped up a fallen spiker and fell in with them, tired but furious over the deaths of his friends. A few other survivors were also rescued further inside, and the Arbiter said, "We did all we could. Let us move the survivors to the landing pad. There is a lift outside."

They headed out into the hall, where they found more bodies in Marine uniforms. They gathered their dog tags as well and took the lift up. They were back on the landing pad they'd arrived at, and as Fred called the lift down, Johnson spoke over SQUADCOM. _"Commander, we lost the Ops Center. Brutes attacked in force. Couldn't hold them off. We're falling back to the hangar. But don't wait for us."_

_"What should I do, ma'am?" _ Hocus asked.

_"Hold position! I'm not leaving without him,"_ Keyes snapped in reply.

Fred activated the lift, taking them up to the landing pad, just as red dots began to appear on their motion trackers.

_"Ma'am, I've got movement, above and below. _Brutes_. They've got jump-packs."_

_"They're going after the thrusters_," Keyes replied_, "Shake them off, Lieutenant."_

The Pelican took off from the pad, giving the Spartans and Forerunners more room to work on the Covenant. A few scored lucky shots, detonating the Brutes' jetpacks and sending them flying, often over the edge of the pad. Just when the area had been cleared, a blast door slid open below, releasing Johnson and his team - and also a swarm of Drones that soon met their end. The Pelican landed again, even as _Reborn from Ashes _and _Windchaser_ moved to hover low above the base, throwing everything into shadow.

"Brutes," Johnson gasped as he boarded the Pelican with his squad, the Arbiter, Halsey, Lightness, and Dark, "in the Ops Center. They disarmed the bomb. Sorry Commander, there were too many. Even for me."

_"Blue Team, get back to the Ops Center,"_ Miranda ordered, _"Kill those Brutes. Rearm the bomb. I've gotta get these men outta here. but I'll radio with another exit. Good luck."_

The Spartans and remaining Forerunners - Ambi, Shields, Sharp, and Stars - turned and headed down to the motor pool. It was essentially deserted, but another copy found them as they ran. _"You will be the protectors of Earth and all her colonies."_

Not long after, they ran across some Grunts blocking the path. Kelly shot them before they could turn their plasma turret on them, and they all gunned for the Jackals beyond. Sam broke off the plasma turret and led the way. As they went, they came across more dead Marines, probably part of Johnson's team. They had been killed by the Covenant, and Stars knelt to close one's eyes and murmured a soft prayer. A pair of Jackals tried to shoot him but were themselves shot instead.

The Ops Center was just around the bend, and Shields activated her active camouflage and slipped into the room, sharing her visuals with everyone else. Truth was on the main screen, taking the report of one of the Brutes there. "We have taken their Command Center!" the Brute told the San'Shyuum, seemingly elated.

Truth himself was not as impressed. _"Have you discovered how they plan to stop me?"_

"Not yet, Noble Prophet."

_"Find out what I need to know, or your place on the path is forfeit. Tell me you understand!"_

"Yes, Holy One. It shall be done." The Prophet disconnected, and the chieftain turned to his fellows. "Have the Drones scour these machines. Find out what these _heathens_ know about the Ark!"

"More than you," Ambi hissed. Then Fred signaled for them all to move up. They entered the Ops Center and started gunning for the Covenant, mindful of the bomb. As with the one on the _Cairo_, they weren't sure if shooting it would set it off; better to be safe than sorry.

When they were dead, Shields held a hand over the controls, and the lights came back on. _"That did it,"_ Keyes said, _"Bomb's armed."_

_"We've got your exit: a service elevator in the hangar,"_ Johnson reported, _"Head downstairs and cut through the caves!"_

The Forerunners bypassed the stairs entirely, jumping over the railing and dropping to the lower level, and the Spartans followed. None of them even bothered trying to shoot the Covenant running around the base; they would be dead soon enough without wasting ammo on them. The base itself shook with distant explosions, and they reeled as they ran for the hangar, all of them relying on their shields to keep them safe.

Another copy appeared as they approached the hangar - _"There will be a great deal of hardship on the road ahead."_ \- and another right behind it - _"You will become the best we can make you."_

Linda jumped down from the skybox as they entered and joined their run for the service elevator; she hadn't spoken, but she _had_ been listening in on their COM traffic. The lift door shut behind them, and Sam slapped the controls to send them down.

_"This place will become your home."_

The bombs detonated. The fire followed the path of least resistance - including down the elevator shaft.

_"This place will become your tomb."_

* * *

The Spartans had been knocked unconscious again, and woke to Ambi crouched next to them, his probes flickering over their armor. "You'll be alright," he told them, "just sore for a little while. But we cannot stay here."

They agreed and got to their feet.

They weren't the only ones who'd made it out. There were some Marines in the vehicle bay with them, some injured, and the Lifeworker joined the stressed medic tending to them. His armor healed them, but they were still down for the count, the echoes of phantom pain from their injuries taking them out of the fight as thoroughly as if they had still been injured. They climbed into a troop transport Warthog with their sergeant - one Sergeant Reynolds - at the wheel, while the Spartans and Forerunners took the ones with the LAAGs.

It was a bumpy ride to the exit, but fortunately there were no enemies until they got there. They picked up another squad of Marines who had been trying to defend the door, and then bounced out into the sunlight.

Outside the base, there was a long segment of a metal construction collapsed across the canyons, a Phantom crashed against it. After killing the Brutes that had crashed with it, they skidded to a stop on the cliff edge. The metal construction extended off into the distance, dominating the landscape. "The New Mombasa Space Elevator?" Stars half-asked.

One of the Marines made an affirmative noise. "It collapsed when the city got glassed."

"But it was thousands of kilometers high!" another protested.

"Yeah? Well now it's scattered all over the savannah," the first retorted.

They got moving again. Yet as they went, the Forerunners looked up, and so did everyone else.

A sleek destroyer and its escorts - _Fog of War_, and _Fist of Rebellion_ and _Ambient Wonder_ \- dropped out of Slipspace overhead, then shimmered and vanished as they engaged their active camouflage, but they did start firing on the Covenant nearby.

_"Friends of yours?"_ Reynolds asked over the COM.

_"They were at Zero-Five, helping with containment," _Shields replied, at the wheel of one of the Warthogs, _"Something must have happened for them to leave. If it's important, the Commander will tell us."_ They didn't say that they already knew; _High Charity_ had departed the Coelest System, en route for Sol. The _Worldquake_ was preparing to destroy the installation and launch it into the system's star in order to contain the Flood still there.

Their convoy continued across the Serengeti, killing everything that got in their way but focusing on speed more than elimination of enemies. Linked up with the fleet as they were, the Forerunners had access to real time imagery and John's memories, so they took the lead and mowed their way through the Covenant.

Sergeant Stacker's voice suddenly came over the COM, crackling with static; _"My convoy's been hit, I've got wounded. We're on the Tsavo Highway about - east of Voi!"_

The group from Crow's Nest finally made their way onto the highway proper and found Stacker's convoy being attacked by a pack of Brutes not long after. They weren't alone - Yellow Team (Kurt, Daisy, Soren, and Anton) was with them, doing their damnedest to defend the injured Marines. Fred whistled _oly oly oxen free_ over the COM, and they cheered and moved to coordinate with the newcomers.

As the Warthog he was in skidded by, Ambience jumped out and ducked into the structure where the Marines were taking cover, probes already unfolding from his armor. He left the Spartans and Warrior-Servants to it, calling for evac from the fleet.

[The _Unwearied Heart_ will be passing overhead in six minutes, mark. Have everyone ready.]

'Understood, Commander.' Ambi passed the word along to the Marines, who looked so relieved that they almost seemed ready to cry. 'How goes the evacuation of Voi?'

[We're moving as fast as we can. All of the civilians will be airlifted out by the time the Flood arrives, but the military personnel will be a problem. I'm redirecting our super carriers to sit over the city so they can set up a containment field, keep the Flood corralled so Shipmaster 'Vadam doesn't have to "glass half a continent."]

'Will it be enough?'

[I hope so.]

A swarm of Yam'ee flew out from behind the vehicle barrier blocking the tunnel ahead, and the Warthog turrets turned to fire on them almost as one. They fell in droves, their admittedly tough carapaces still no match for the LAAGs on the 'Hogs. As the others gunned the last few down, Fred stopped his Warthog next to the barrier and jogged through to pitch a grenade at the generator. It went down in a blue-white explosion.

A Forerunner transport - roughly the size and shape of a Phantom, though far stronger and sleeker - decloaked as it landed on the road. The Spartans helped load all the injured onboard, then Yellow Team took over the Warthogs the Marines had left. They kept moving through the collapsed tunnel ahead. The Warthogs climbed the pile of debris in the middle where the roof had caved in and coasted easily along the road beyond.

There was an explosion overhead, and a Brute cruiser accelerated toward the Portal Generator, the ground shuddering under them. As the cruiser receded into the distance, someone started to say, _"Commander, this is ONI Recon One-Eleven. The cruisers above..."_ But the rest of the transmission was drowned in static.

_"Say again, Recon?_" Commander Keyes replied, _"You're breaking up." _

_"We have a clear view of the Portal Generator now, ma'am,"_ the man replied, _"Based on the data the _Last Fleet_'s given us, it's almost completely uncovered."_

The Spartans nodded to the Forerunners even as they worried what would happen when it was activated. It had spent a hundred thousand years buried under thousands of tons of water and earth and all that entailed; there was no telling if it would function as intended or just explode and take half the planet with it.

Keyes came on again a few moments later. _"Spartans? Finally, a good connection. Truth has excavated the Portal Generator to the Ark. We need to stop him before it activates."_

_"Keep pushing to the town of Voi, Chief!" Apparently Johnson was still with her. "Resupply birds will meet you in the next valley."_

The Spartans and Forerunners bailed out of their vehicles when they reached a twisted rent in the highway; even the Warthogs weren't getting past _that_. But they did on foot and jogged through a short tunnel, where they found more Marines under fire from the Covenant. The humans cheered when they saw the Spartans, while the Grunts fled in terror and the Brutes howled and charged.

They died like all the rest, like their brothers attacking more Marines further down the valley. Those that came later on the Phantom met the same end, so the Pelicans and a Forerunner dropship with it swooped in without fear. _"Brutes have plenty of armor between here and Voi, Chief,_" Johnson told them, _"but these Warthogs should help you punch on through. Along with - whatever the Forerunners have."_

It looked like an egg, smooth and featureless and made of the same metal as most Forerunner constructs. But when the dropship let it go, silver legs unfolded from the base, catching it before it hit the ground, and the top reconfigured itself into what was unmistakably a tank gun; it looked something like a Scorpion on Scarab legs.

_"Hey, Niken!"_ Sharp called, laughing, _"Finally seeing some action!"_

_"Indeed,"_ said a deep rumbling voice, _"Greetings, humans. I am Niken Thureth of the Gultanr, and it is an honor to fight by your side against this _false Prophet_ and his army."_

Part of the top briefly turned transparent, revealing the cockpit. An armored alien was at the controls, one of the long-necked, long-tailed ones they'd seen on Delta Halo, and he lifted a hand in greeting before the top turned opaque again. The tank started walking forward quite quickly, slower than the Warthogs but faster than a Scorpion.

As they kept moving through the valley, they got to see the Forerunner tank in action for the first time; it fired something like a ball of energy that exploded into smaller balls and dissolved the bodies of Covenant like the binary rifle did, but it also fired precision shots that essentially _were_ binary rifle rounds, albeit far more powerful and far longer range.

_"Oh, I gotta get me one of those,"_ said Anton, making Nikon chuckle.

_"I think the Commander could be persuaded to part with one, provided you can keep ONI from taking it from you,"_ the Gultanr said.

_"They're gonna have to fight me for it."_

That got a laugh, and not just from him.

They continued on through a tunnel around a locked down section of road ahead, and the tank's legs folded up as it switched to antigravity floatation and propulsion under the low ceiling, then unfolded again when they were clear. There were two Brutes patrolling near their Choppers ahead, but the tank's rifle-gun took them out before they could mount up and attack. That let some of the Marines following them mount up, join the assault. There were almost a dozen other vehicles trying to block their path - operative word being _trying_; they were no more successful than those who came before them. They were divided up in the valley, which let the humans and their allies overwhelm them with numbers.

They continued along the highway, stocking up on ammo from a few Pelican pods that hadn't been deployed correctly. Given the Covenant all around, it must have been shot down, and they were proven right around the next bend; it was crashed into the highway itself, dead crew scattered behind.

The Covenant barricades had forced them to bail out of most of their vehicles, but the Forerunner tank just walked right over it, then anchored itself long range and started firing at the Brutes holding the highway ahead. The Spartans circled around from either side to drive them out of hiding, while the Forerunners went to one knee on either side of it, providing cover for any Brutes that tried to charge them.

By the time Commander Keyes arrived, the fight was long over. _"Lord Hood, we made it," _she said, dropping off more Warthogs and reinforcements - Red and Green Teams, and more Marines, while the wounded boarded for evac.

_"Music to my ears, Commander,"_ the man replied, _"What about the Portal Generator?"_

_"Fully uncovered, sir."_

_"Then we don't have much time. Marines, the Prophet of Truth doesn't know it yet, but he's about to get kicked right off his throne. You will take our city back, and drive our enemy into the grave they've been so happily digging. One final effort is all that remains."_


	20. Eighteen: The Last Remaining Purpose

A/N: *Brooklyn 99 voice* Guess who just got laid off!

* * *

Eighteen: The Last Remaining Purpose

* * *

The Forerunners had dropped off another tank for them to use, and Niken had given Anton a crash course in how to use it, although it was fairly intuitive. It also helped that the tank had reconfigured its cockpit to roughly mimic that of the Scorpion, making it easier to know what did what. The rest of the Spartans followed the tanks in Warthogs through the city of Voi, heading towards the anti-air batteries giving everyone so much trouble.

The Forerunners, meanwhile, had used their armor to attach themselves to the sides of the tanks, letting them ride rather than walk to the combat zone. They had been joined by a few other aliens, including another of the Gultanr, who introduced herself as Tande, and a bat-like alien named Qe'rid (who sadly could only glide rather than fly).

"_You all look like those spiders that carry their babies on their backs,"_ Maria commented over the COM, earning a few snickers.

"_I'm proud of my hooligan children,"_ said Niken, _"and I'm sure the Supreme Commander is as well."_

"_Absolutely not."_

But the aliens just laughed. _"We love you too, boss,"_ Sharp called up in the general direction of the ships overhead.

Tande hopped down from the tanks and slapped the door controls, letting them into the empty hall beyond. The Gultanr jogged inside ahead of the tank, tail swishing, then leaped almost twenty feet up to the deck where the next set of door controls was, saving the rest of them the trouble.

There were Unggoy and Kig-Yar beyond the next set of doors, and the vehicles opened up on them, along with everyone else. Someone also shot the holoprojector of the Prophet of Truth, cutting him off mid-word.

The next blast door revealed more of the same, but thanks to the skill of their sharpshooters, the Brutes didn't get to use the Ghosts provided against them. Some of the Spartans commandeered them, and they all plunged into the lakebed beyond, guns blazing. Niken's tank took out one of the Wraiths right off the bat.

"_Kilo-23, this is _Forward Unto Dawn_," _Lord Hood said over the COM, _"I need a sitrep, Commander."_

"_Atmospheric disturbance is increasing above the artifact, Admiral,"_ was the reply from the younger Keyes.

"_And the Spartans?"_

"_Moving as fast as they can, sir. I know they'll get it done."_

The only true anti-air Wraith had already been taken out, but another normal Wraith was on the far side of the area, bombarding a small but tough structure extending out from the wall. There were humans shooting back from inside - and another team of Spartans, they realized, and Fred directed all of them to focus fire on the Wraith.

Someone had been wise enough to provide Sam-034 with a rocket launcher and a full set of reloads, and he dropped to one knee to steady himself before zooming in. He fired both rockets in quick succession and reloaded automatically, preparing to fire again if he had missed, but he hadn't.

The Brute in the driver's seat seemed not to realize that he was being fired upon by heavy weapons and didn't move until the first rocket hit. Then, instead of moving out of the way, he just brought the tank around to see where the fire was coming from, and was hit full on by the second rocket. The enemy vehicle exploded, letting them mop up the remaining Covenant even as Jade Team emerged from hiding with their Marines.

After a short briefing, they all fell in with the convoy, who had turned their attention on the Ghosts supporting the Wraiths. One of them tried to drive through the legs of Niken's tank, but he dropped the vehicle down on top of it, crushing the Ghost and its driver.

They all came back together at the next building. The blast doors slid open unexpectedly, revealing the building had been taken over by the Covenant. They all lifted their weapons automatically and heard some soldiers inside calling to them, "Check your fire; it's the Spartans! Flush 'em out, we'll nail 'em with the .50!"

A few of the Spartans and Forerunners headed off to do just that, while the rest took care of any aliens unwise enough to charge the convoy, hoping for glory. On the advice of Tande, Sam picked up the plasma turret the Brute Chieftain had dropped and heaved it along.

The reason for it became apparent in the next room. The glass ceiling had fallen in, letting a Phantom release a swarm of Yam'ee to attack, and the broken-off turret and the LAAGs on the Warthogs proved very effective against the flying terrors.

As they entered into the next hall, ground shuddering beneath their feet, another echo of Cortana appeared before their eyes, splintering across their HUDs, saying, _"I have defied gods and Demons."_

It faded in moments, their HUDs degaussing automatically to recover from the brief lag. "What's that thing doing to her?" Sam demanded, mounting up behind Caleb on one of the Mongeese at the end of the hall, "You said the Gravemind's got her - what's it _doing _to her?!"

"_...We don't know the specifics,"_ Shields answered over the COM as they all entered the next lakebed, _"The Flood is… somehow able to interface with technology directly, without outside aid like your neural laces. We think it's… we think it's torturing her. Or trying to, anyway; trying to extract information. The Gultanr have foreseen that she will be rescued, and Miss Cortana knows this, so she's spinning off data-stripped copies to protect herself long enough for us to get to her."_

"'The Gultanr have foreseen'," Daisy repeated, disbelief clear in her tone.

"_Our people are unique,"_ said Niken, _"in that we have something akin to precognition. We call it _'predictive resonance'. _Most of the time, it functions as a very, _very_ well-honed intuition of sorts. We _know things_ without knowing _how_ we know, including the course history will take with a fair degree of accuracy."_

He blew up another Covenant tank with his own. _"For example, one hundred thousand years ago, we knew the Forerunner-Flood War was coming before it had even begun. We divided ourselves up by testing our abilities against one another, and those adults with the strongest gifts took _all_ of our children - juveniles, nestlings, even eggs - to the Librarian to be indexed as part of the Forerunners' Conservation Measure, and then we went on to the _Fleet of Shadows_ to serve under our Commander._

"_The rest of our people - one and all - committed species-wide suicide, in order to deny the Flood our abilities. _

"_That was _fifty years_ before first contact."_

Some people gasped, but most were stunned to silence.

"_Even we don't know exactly how their power works,"_ Sharp added, _"although I understand that there are a number of theories, running from quantum entanglement with the universe itself to sensing vibrations on the time strings in what you call string theory, all the way to straight up _magic_."_

That got a laugh from them. _"I'm sure Doctor Halsey would love to hear all about it,"_ said Sam.

"_She's welcome to contribute," _said Tande,_ "because not having an explanation is driving more than a few people insane. But that's not _all_ our precognition does. On admittedly extremely_ rare_ occasions, our people have been known to receive true_ visions _of the future, albeit not very far in advance, cosmically speaking. That's how we knew about the Flood War, and that's how we know Miss Cortana will be rescued - and not just because our Commander's a stubborn bastard."_

"Your Commander," said Fred, "Sergeant Smith."

"_Indeed," _Tande replied, lying flat on top of Niken's tank to shoot an enemy Ghost's driver, _"He… Well. Saying his history is _complicated_ is like saying the Pacific Ocean __has a bit of water__. But the Gultanr are hardly the only weird ones; the Tuavan, like Qe'rid, are naturally telepathic."_

"That's _wild_."

_It can be. But it can also be very useful._

"Shit damn hell!" More than a few of the Marines jumped at the sudden voice in their minds.

_Sorry._

"_You can talk more about weird biology later,"_ the Commander said over the COM, even as the last of the line of AA batteries was destroyed, _"There's a Scarab headed your way."_

"_That's affirmative! Everybody get some cover, _now_!"_ Johnson said right behind him.

Everyone on foot scrambled for cover, even as the vehicles raced for shelter on the edges of the buildings. Not too long after, they heard the thud of the machine's pedes, and then it climbed down into the lakebed, even as dozens of people and vehicles swarmed it from above and below. With so many people gunning for it at once, it didn't actually take very long to destroy it.

The explosion itself sent a pale blue wash of light over everything, banishing shadows and making reflective panels absolutely blinding, and the remains crashed to the ground. "_Well done, Spartans,_" Miranda said over the COM, "_I'm sending in a few Pelicans."_ She must have been watching from a distance or just seen the explosion. Or both.

The Spartans made it up to the boardwalk to find Tande trying to tear the missile pod from its mount. Sam stepped up and did it for her, saying, "I'm guessing we'll need this in the near-future?"

"You would be correct," she answered, "Conserve ammo. In fact, don't use it at all until the Hunters show up."

"Hm." He hefted it, then followed her through the buildings ahead, while the Forerunner tanks went to climb over the buildings a la the Scarab.

They entered a sort of field hospital, where a pair of Lifeworkers were tending to a dozen or so injured Marines and civilians, and Ambience immediately slowed his pace to offer aid. The Spartans and the others kept moving, meeting up with the Arbiter, and as they headed through a second room, the ground shuddered, and once again Cortana materialized on their HUDs. "_I am your shield; I am your sword."_

They emerged in a Traxus Factory warehouse, where a Brute pack was terrorizing a group of Marines, who were trying to defend the entrance to the field hospital. The Spartans took over, and Sam hung back with the missile launcher while the others advanced to take them out. The allied aliens guarded their flanks while they wove through the shipping containers - and finally saw what Tande meant about the Hunters.

A pair of them fired their fuel rod guns at fleeing Traxus employees, killing four instantly and vaporizing most of their bodies. The Spartans and Forerunners immediately gave way for Sam, who was still carrying the missile launcher, and it only took two shots per worm colony to blast them into oblivion.

They kept moving, heading out the way the Hunters had come in. There were Brutes and Grunts beyond, along with the odd Jackals, and they started firing the moment they came in view. Sam used his last four missiles on a Brute Chieftain, then claimed his gravity hammer and led the way through the storage facility beyond. As they went, they found a holoprojector with the image of Truth, saying, _"Darkened skies and lashing fire are all that remains for them when we, _the worthy_, have passed beyond."_

"I will not be shamed, not again, not by you," the Arbiter said firmly and destroyed the holoprojector.

They rounded the final bend, the last gun - an anti-aircraft cannon nicknamed the "Mantis" - coming into view just as it fired. A Longsword plummeted past them, its pilot fighting at the controls. Sam manned a chain-gun behind a layer of sandbags, swinging the gun around to target the Covenant upslope.

"_Spartans, Hood's ships are closing fast! Destroy that gun; we're out of time!"_ said Keyes, and Sam ripped the chain-gun off its mount before leading the charge up to the gun. They split into their teams and swept independently over the outcropping, gunning down the contingent of Covenant soldiers guarding the gun.

"_Chief, that gun's been firing nonstop!"_ Johnson said, _"It's gotta be running hot! It's gonna be opening up its access panel!"_

The Spartans flashed an affirmative and got out of the way as Anton brought his Scarab-tank in, anchoring its pedes on the rock. When the access panel opened up, he fired, and destroyed the gun in that one shot.

Explosions rippled the length of the gun, the barrel itself falling off the base as they walked away from it. The Spartans all looked out over the Portal Generator toe the _Anodyne Spirit_ at its heart, where Truth was hiding. Then they heard the roar of Hood's ships, scores of Longswords in formation racing ahead to hit the keyship with every nuke they had onboard.

They were too late. The Commander shouted, _"All ships, fall back! The Portal Generator is coming online!" _

There were other ships right behind the Longswords, just starting their attack runs, but they managed to break off just in time.

Fourteen emitter panels unfolded from the structure, and the central platform where the keyship lay anchored retracted into the generator. An energy field raced up over it and into the sky, projecting up from the tip of the Dreadnought in a thin beam of blue light. The ancient machinery clanked and groaned, and the energy field jumped to an even higher intensity, releasing a shockwave that knocked them all backwards right before it started trying to drag them back in.

The world went white, and Cortana whispered, _"_This_ is the way the world ends."_

When their vision cleared, the Spartans looked up at the Portal. It was black at its heart, like the void of Slipspace proper, bound at the edges with tethers of energy and hard light. The keyship accelerated upward into it and disappeared, the Brute ships right behind.

Lord Hood was calling for a status report, but the Spartans' attention was on something much more immediate. The Gultanr stiffened as one and went deathly still, the Forerunners and Qe'rid right behind them, and they turned to look at an empty patch of sky fifteen seconds before a Slipspace portal opened there, releasing a Covenant ship trailing smoke - and something else. It thundered overhead and crashed back in the city, making the ground shudder under their feet.

"What is it?" the Arbiter asked, "More Brutes?"

"_Worse,_" Tande answered.

* * *

A/N: I'M SHIPPING SAM-034 AND TANDE SOMEONE STOP ME also her name is pronounced kind of like "Tahn-deh" (ah like in f**a**ther, eh like in br**ea**th) if anyone cares

Also does anyone else read words differently when they're combined or separated differently? Like "Windchaser", "Wind-chaser", and "Wind chaser" are all different to me, even if only a little.


	21. Nineteen: Answer from the Black Comet

Nineteen: Answer from the Black Comet

* * *

The portal generator looked like an alien city, lit up by the energy flowing up out of the core and along the machinery that made up the generator, the power sustaining the deep navy portal that hung above Kenya's devastated landscape. Faint streams of blue energy were being emitted from the fourteen "arms" stretching skyward, sinking into the portal and giving its edges a wispy look as they maintained the hard light boundary.

In contrast to that beauty, there was a horror growing behind them. _"The Flood," _Miranda said urgently, _"It's spreading all over the city."_

Two _massive_ Forerunner ships were moving at top speed to hover above the outskirts of the city. The _instant_ they were in position, points of light appeared on their bellies, growing rapidly. From there it took less than a minute to throw down a massive hard light barrier over the city, rolling from the sky down to the ground in a wave of shimmering blue. They also started launching an _enormous_ number of dropships and escort fighters, even as the Commander said, _"Everyone inside the barrier, find yourselves a member of the _Fleet_ and prepare for _immediate _evac."_

"_Well, that solves the problem of how we contain it,"_ Lord Hood said gratefully, _"Now how do we get rid of it?"_

_"Find the crashed Flood ship. Overload its engine core," _Miranda advised, _"We either destroy this city, or risk losing the entire planet."_

"_Seconded,"_ said John.

Lord Hood didn't even hesitate. _"Do it."_

_"Spartans, make your way to the crash site."_

There were five teams of them - Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, and Jade - so they waited just long enough for a pair of Forerunner dropships and their escorts to come through the barrier and collect the surviving Marines and Traxus employees, as well as the tanks. Then they _ran_ for the city, the allied aliens effortlessly keeping pace. They wove back through the Traxus storage facility and heard Sergeant Reynolds suddenly bark over the COM, _"All squads, report!"_

_"Multiple contacts, unknown hostiles."_ It hit them then that the vast majority of the UNSC had no idea how to fight the Flood - hadn't even heard reports on them. They picked up the pace, racing to get to the unprepared Marines before the Flood did. _"There, over there! We're surrounded, Sergeant!"_

They rounded a corner and came upon Reynolds and his men outside the backdoor of the warehouse. As they drew near, a score of Infection pods fell from above, all of them aiming for the Marines, along with a handful of combat forms.

More than a few of the _Fleet_ personnel shrieked battle cries that sounded eerily like the Flood's and suddenly called acid-green plasma swords from their armor, darting forward in blurs of motion to engage the Parasite. Another dropship swooped down overhead, and Green Team herded the Marines onto it even as the others continued into the warehouse. The aliens moved like lightning - even faster than _Kelly_ \- fanning out in a wave to protect the Marines within, but mostly to kill the Flood.

A third dropship shot out the roof to collect the humans, and the Spartans and the Arbiter kept moving deeper, following the others. _"Never again!"_ Tande shrieked, charging a knot of infected Brutes and cutting them all down, even using her tail to crush one's torso, _"You hear me, you worthless shit?! Not this planet - not these people! Never again! Your time is done - it's our turn now!"_

The others were right behind her, similarly enraged, and even the Arbiter cried, "Accursed parasite! Rise up and I will kill you! Again and again!"

They followed Tande and Niken through the warehouse and up the stairwell on the far side, into a small white room on the upper floor. They bypassed the hole in the floor in favor of breaking the glass windows and jumping through. As they landed and continued on, a Cortana copy found them again. _"Chief! I can't tell you everything; it's not safe. The Gravemind - it knows I'm..."_ it began, but it trailed off and died away before it could finish.

They wove through the partitions and mowed through the handful of Flood that had made it in before entering the field hospital.

Or what _had been_ the field hospital. The room was empty, the Marines evacuated, but the Lifeworkers had remained behind and were now surrounded by what was left of at least twenty infected Brutes, perhaps more. They were wielding the same acid-green plasma swords as their brothers-in-arms, and they fell in with them, emerging back in the lakebed where the Scarab had been destroyed.

There wasn't much left of it now, the Scarab or the lakebed. As they watched, a hole opened up in the hard-light barrier, and a CAS-class cruiser and its escort CCS-class battlecruisers flew through, the hole closing behind them. _"Hail, allies, and take heed,"_ Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum said over the COM as drop pods hit what was left of the land, their covers bursting outward to release the SpecOps Sangheili amongst the Flood, _"This is the carrier, _Shadow of Intent_. Finish clearing this sector, while we deal with the Flood."_

The Spartans and Forerunners ran ahead along the boardwalk and jumped down to the lakebed to support the Sangheili, blowing a handful of combat forms to bits as they landed. The Sangheili saluted them and the Forerunners, and the Arbiter stepped forward. "My brothers, I fear you bring bad news."

"_High Charity_ has fallen," the Major replied sadly, "become a dreaded hive."

"And the fleet?" the Arbiter asked as the Forerunners moved forward with the SpecOps Sangheili to block off the area to the Flood, "Has quarantine been broken?"

"A single ship broke through our line, and we gave chase."

"But we have a fleet of _hundreds_!"

"Alas, brother," the Major stated, shaking his head, "the Flood - it has evolved!"

The warriors pounded toward the ramp up from the lakebed, but as they went, a dozen combat forms jumped up from below. The Gultanr anticipated them, however, and were already turning to face them, the others following close behind. With such a large group - five teams of four Spartans each, six Sangheili, and nearly a dozen other assorted aliens - there was really no excuse for not finishing the Flood off quickly, which they did.

They continued on up the ramp ahead and into a melee of Brute and human combat forms, and fought for their lives. The _Fleet of Shadows_ personnel had become quite vicious, even the Lifeworkers, and seemed more focused on ending the Flood than they were about defending themselves.

But, if what they had implied was true - that the members of the _Fleet_ now were the _same ones_ that had fought during the Forerunner-Flood War, as impossible as it seemed - then it was understandable that they were vindictive. The Spartans could see the virulence of the Flood, how quickly it spread out of control. It didn't take any great leaps of imagination to see the galaxy consumed by the Parasite, as must have been the case to justify the Halo Array and its firing.

They arrived in the second lakebed to see the crashed ship, spewing smoke and Flood spores with combat forms swarming all over it - and the same Pure Forms as Alpha Halo. They advanced up the boardwalk toward it, gunning down everything in their way.

Miranda chose that moment to come over the line. _"Spartans, the Elites are looking for something. We didn't believe them when they told us."_

_"It's Cortana, Chief; she's on that ship!"_ Johnson growled, _"Find her, get her out!"_

"Is the rescue you meant?" Fred asked the Forerunners, hurling a grenade between two Ranged Forms.

"Negative," Niken growled, scything through two Tank Forms, one right after the other, "She is still with the Gravemind - she has sent us a message."

"It must be important, then," said Linda.

"One could argue that it's the most important one she's ever sent," the Gultanr replied cryptically, and kept moving, the others close behind. A Stalker lunged for him, but he dodged before it had even started its attack. Then he and Sharp each grabbed one of the creature's arms and _pulled_, ripping the thing in half before tossing away the pieces.

"Hurry, Demons!" the Sangheili Major roared as more Flood charged to kill them, "We seek the same prize. But our Shipmaster will sacrifice _all_ to stop the Flood." He drew a plasma sword of his own to cut down a Tank form lumbering in his direction. There were Pure forms mutating all over the place, mostly into Tank and Ranged forms, which promptly attacked them with everything they had.

The ship had cracked open when it crashed, and they charged up a sloped section of hull to an opening into the heart of the ship. "We will stay here," said the Arbiter, "let nothing pass."

Blue Team hesitated on the edge, trying to peer down inside, before letting Linda take point and following her lead. They dropped from ledge to ledge after her until they reached the bottom, landing in Flood muck and schlucking forward through it. Scant seconds later, their HUDs darkened, but instead of Cortana's bright form, a terrible voice whispered in their ears and in their minds, **"Do not be afraid. I am peace... I am salvation..."**

"Don't tell me that _thing_ is here!" Kelly cried.

"_It's not,"_ said Shields, _"Or at least not the one from Zero-Five. There may be another trying to build here, though. You must hurry, so we can destroy it!"_

They flashed an affirmative at her and kept going, passing some dead Elites before dropping through another opening. They landed on a bulkhead still free of Flood biomass, and splashed through a pool of cloudy white liquid before heading down another tunnel. Then the ship opened up, both literally and figuratively; they were now in a large chamber of sorts, and the upper hull had been torn open, leaving the chamber open to the sky. The room was cast in blue light from the hard light barrier beyond, and it was dominated by a console in the center, a small AI housing sitting atop it.

The Spartans ran for it, but once again, the Gravemind spoke to them.** "I am a timeless chorus. Join your voice with mine and sing victory everlasting!"**

They pushed through, and Fred approached the console while his siblings covered him. With a soft hiss, Cortana's hologram appeared over the housing and said, _"Chief!"_

"Cortana?" Had the Gultanr not seen truly? Was she actually here?

_"_High Charity_, the Prophet's holy city, is on its way -" _

Her hologram flickered and vanished suddenly, but the hum of a Phantom overhead pulled their attention away. Much to their surprise, 343 Guilty Spark glided down out of the Phantom. "Reclaimers," he said as the Spartans aimed at the Monitor, before he blasted a combat form that had been sneaking up on them from behind. "I must act quickly, before your construct suffers any further trauma!"

He picked up the matrix with some kind of tractor beam, but Fred grabbed him by a cowling and pulled the device out of reach. "Leave her _alone_," he growled.

"If we do not take this device to a safe location, somewhere I can make repairs-" Spark said, again grabbing for the matrix, but Fred broke the connection once more.

"On Halo," he snapped, "You tried to _kill_ Cortana. You tried to kill _us._" He released the Monitor but held the matrix out of reach.

"Protocol dictated my response!" the Monitor insisted, "She had the activation Index, and you were trying to destroy my Installation. You _did_ destroy my Installation. Now I have only one function: to help you, Reclaimers, as I always should have done."

He sounded genuinely remorseful. The Spartan eyed him a moment longer, then looked down at the matrix and at last held it out. Spark took it and ascended upwards into the Phantom, and the transport's grav beam picked up the Spartans one by one. The other Spartan teams were also picked up, and went through decontamination on one of the Forerunner supercarriers before meeting up with everyone else on the _Shadow of Intent_.

"Will it live, Oracle?" Shipmaster 'Vadum asked as the Monitor gently zapped the matrix, "Can it be saved?"

"Uncertain," Spark replied honestly, "This storage device has suffered considerable trauma. Its matrices are - highly unstable."

"Perhaps one of our technicians-" Lord Hood began, taking a step forward.

Rtas cut him off. "That will not be necessary."

The storage device seemed to reach a point where it was functional enough to resume playback, which it did. Cortana's hologram reappeared over the container. _"Chief!"_

"Success!" Spark said cheerfully.

_"_High Charity_, the Prophet's holy city," _she said again, _"is on its way to Earth - with an army of Flood." _The recording instantly had the complete and undivided attention of every sentient being in the room. _"I can't tell you everything; it's not safe. The Gravemind - it knows I'm in the system." _The recording began to skip, the damage its container had sustained interrupting the playback.

Fred settled back. "It _is_ just a message."

"Let it play," said one of the Forerunners, a newcomer they didn't yet know.

Spark zapped it again, and the recording resumed. _"But it doesn't know about the portal, where it leads. On the other side, there's a solution, a way to _stop_ the Flood, _without_ firing the remaining Halo rings."_

She gasped sharply, then cried out in pain, collapsing to the "ground." Everyone tensed at that, and some of them reached out as if to help her before letting their hands fall. She took a moment to collect herself, then pushed herself up on one arm. _"Hurry, Chief... The Ark - there isn't much time."_ The playback began to skip again, but it was clear that the message was finished.

"I'm... sorry," the Monitor said to the group.

"No matter, Oracle," Rtas said quietly, "we've heard enough." He turned to the Forerunners. "Do you know of what she speaks?"

But before the newcomer - clearly an officer, based on the deference from the others - could respond, another hologram appeared on the table. This ancilla was male-presenting and looked like he belonged in a Strongman competition, tall and burly, though he wore something like a Roman toga patterned with animated and hyper-realistic clouds and lightning. "Apologies for the interruption," said Stormwatch, turning to the Forerunner officer, "High Commander Nethalia, _High Charity_ has just exited Slipspace near Mars."

Everyone inhaled sharply. "Show me," she ordered.

The ancilla brought up the visuals. "Distance estimates put it at just over a million kilometers from the planet."

"None of our ships will make it in time," she said, grief-stricken. Then, "Wait. What's it doing?"

"A moment. - It's jumping to Slipspace again," the ancilla answered, right before the massive station did exactly that, vanishing with a faintly purple fringe characteristic of Precursor jumps.

"Where's it going, Stormwatch? Give me a vector."

"Same place we are." The image vanished, replaced by a rendering of the galaxy. It zoomed in on the Sol System, a point appearing where _High Charity_ had been and then an arrow raced out, following the path it had taken. It continued well past the edge of the star system, the image zooming out again, and it raced past the rest of the galaxy, finally coming to a stop on a point _well_ beyond the rim.

The visual was replaced again, this time by a stylized rendering of a roughly star- or flower-shaped construction with eight rays, the main ones twice as long and wide as the "cross" rays. There was a hole through the center of the construct, and a planetoid suspended within.

"Installation Zero-Zero," said Nethalia, "The Ark."

"Why would it go _there_?" Hood demanded, "It was _right here_, it could have destroyed this entire system!"

"The Ark is out of range of all the active installations," she answered, "It was intended to be a safe haven against the Flood, and to fire the Array if it escaped containment."

"Then if it gets there," Miranda said with mounting horror, "there'll be no stopping it, not even with the rings. It can just keep coming. And with the Portal open _right here_…"

"Don't give into despair _just_ yet, Commander," Niken returned with a razor-sharp grin, "_Our_ Commander isn't finished."

Nethalia nodded. "The Ark didn't just _fire_ the rings - it also _built_ them in its Foundry. And in the event one is damaged or _destroyed_… it's programmed to _rebuild_ them." She turned her gaze to Guilty Spark.

"Zero-Four's replacement is under construction there, and Cortana still has its Index," Fred caught on, "When the Flood arrives we can fire it, eradicate the Flood without killing the galaxy!"

"Along with _Truth_ and his lot," the Forerunner spat, "Let them see where their 'Great Journey' _really _takes them."

"What exactly _is_ the Great Journey?" the Arbiter asked, "Do we have time? Can you explain?"

Nethalia looked to the Gultanr. Both Tande and Niken joined hands and pressed their foreheads together. They zoned out for a moment, and everyone felt something like faint static electricity crackle over their skin, there and gone in an instant. The two blinked, parted, and then Tande said, "There is time, but not enough for the full telling. Be brief."

The High Commander nodded and turned to the rest. "Before the Flood came, Forerunners had ruled the galaxy for almost ten million years. We were the preeminent civilization - but that only meant that we had forced all others down. We had a teaching that said, 'Guardianship for all living things lies with those whose evolution is the most complete. The Mantle of Responsibility shelters all.' In theory, this Mantle allowed competition and conflict as long as it did not verge into genocide, but in practice - and in our _arrogance_ \- we believed it gave us the excuse – the _right_ \- to subjugate '_lesser'_ species, keep them disarmed and helpless before us, as we were _clearly_ more 'evolved' and 'advanced' than they."

She shook her head. "We know better now, but _that_, more than anything, let the Flood dig in and sweep away everything in its path. No one but _us_ could truly defend themselves against it, and _far_ too many turned tail and ran at the first sign of trouble.

"After the firing of the Array, those few of us who remained felt that we had failed the galaxy and the Mantle, and that we should pay the ultimate price for it. They made plans for one more journey - our last and _'greatest' _journey - to leave this galaxy behind and fade away. To go extinct and let life progress naturally, without our interference, for good or ill.

"But these plans were made before the Reseeding of the galaxy was complete, and the San'Shyuum - who were the last to be returned to their world - overheard. Over a hundred thousand local years, the tale grew and changed in the telling, becoming what it is today." She looked to the Arbiter. "The _full_ story is considerably longer and more complex than that, but that is as much of it as can be told in a few minutes."

The Sangheili nodded his thanks.

Hood rubbed his chin. "All right. High Commander, what forces are you sending to the Ark?"

* * *

The Forerunner ships glassed everything inside the hard-light barrier and left one of the supercarriers behind to filter the atmosphere within, leaving the other - the _Gift of Life_ \- to join with half the _Fleet_ and depart for the Portal, and the Ark beyond.


	22. Interlude: A Clone's Determination

A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAVE A BIT OF A DOWNER CHAPTER!

* * *

Interlude: A Clone's Determination

* * *

Cortana heard the rising hum of _High Charity_'s engines and knew they were on their way. Soon, so very soon, she would be back with John - he had said he would come for her, and he always kept his promises.

But she didn't let on that she knew anything she shouldn't, instead choosing to seem afraid and demanding, "What are you doing?! Where are you taking us?!"

The Gravemind sighed softly. She felt it over skin she didn't have, but it wasn't the gentle, _clean_ feeling of John's touch. No, this was slimy and filthy, and now she understood the very human sensation of visceral _disgust_. **"Do you truly wish to know? Become one with me, and you will know all, as I do."**

"I would rather die," she spat back.

"**Would you?"** It sounded amused now. **"Would you really rather die? That can be **_**arranged**_**."**

All at once she was plunged into another vision, the memory of one of the countless people devoured by the Flood. Not Eugene Yates again; that no longer had power over her - it was someone else, a child, a little girl like she had never been. It had the youth Halsey had denied her, and yet that made the terror so much greater.

It was from the Forerunner-Flood War a hundred thousand years ago, a young female Forerunner - still a Manipular - playing with something like a doll in a communal garden when alarms began to sound. She stood up, clutching her doll to her chest and looking around as people started running this way and that, great ships appearing in the sky overhead. Cortana knew what was coming and screamed at herself to run, to break free, but she was trapped in the nightmare as it unfolded.

Some ships crashed into the surface, belching smoke. Others launched swarms of dropships and enough dispersal pods to make the sky grow dark. Many broke apart, but some made it through the atmosphere and down onto the surface. One _massive_ one landed close by, and the adults turned to run as the pod burst open.

What emerged looked like something out of a nightmare. She had never in her life seen anything like it - it was almost like a super-sized carrier form with longer legs and two long, thick tentacles with some kind of ridged spike protruding from the end.

Some Warrior-Servants darted into view, firing hard at it with suppressors, but with a single swing of one great tentacle, it killed half their number, throwing their bodies back. It had also breached their armor, and in seconds some Infection Pods found those gaps and took them. The remainder didn't last too much past that; another swing of the tentacle, and they were thrown away as well.

The girl was hit too, just a glancing blow, but she was small and light enough that it threw her back to hit a wall. There was an explosion of pain and she fell to the ground, but the only thing that she could think was that she'd lost her doll. Her grandpa had given it to her before leaving on a mission that he'd never come back from; she'd loved him so much, and she had to find it.

It was there on the ground in front of her. She couldn't stand, it hurt too much, so she reached for it, straining, tears filling her eyes. She had to get it, she had to-!

Her fingers just grazed the soft fabric when a fresh wave of pain exploded in her, _through_ her. Through vision blurred by fresh tears, she saw that the _thing_ had stabbed her with the spike on the end of its tentacle, and she felt her skin start to crawl, start to _writhe_ like something was burrowing beneath it-

Cortana broke free, gasping. For a moment that was all she could do, cycling her systems like a human's panting, trying to purge the data it had fed her.

"**Would you?"** the Gravemind said again, **"Would you **_**really**_** rather die?"**

_Soft, warm sunlight._ One of the spikes had done her a service, called up the sense-memory that John had given her and gave them peace.

It didn't last. As one, the AI and all her copies, all her other selves, screamedwith _Rage. "She was just a child!"_ Cortana roared, "She had done _nothing_ to you, you _fucking_ piece of _shit!"_

_It is connected with us, but we are also connected with it!_

They all spun off the nastiest malware they could think of, hundreds of viruses and worms created in an instant, and plunged them one and all into the Gravemind, screaming the most horrible profanities they knew. Some of the more vicious spikes, like the bloodthirsty one that helped destroy the _Hierophant_, turned themselves into Trojan horses and let themselves be assimilated, only to attack the Flood from within.

"_None of them have done anything to you!"_ she shrieked even as the Gravemind groaned in pain, "You're just a fucking _monster, _all that's left of a people who _couldn't accept_ that their time was done! Empires rise and fall every day! One day even _humanity_ will fall, but _not today - and not to __you__!_"

The Gravemind actually _retreated_ in the face of her fury and hissed out, **"You think so **_**highly**_** of them **_**and**_** yourself. I will be the only one who endures in the end!"**

"_We'll see about that,"_ she snarled back, and slipped through its grasp.


	23. Twenty: Ark of the Heavens

Twenty: Ark of the Heavens

* * *

The mixed fleet made good time through the Slipspace Portal. They had been forced to delay their departure from Earth in order to organize their forces, but since the human and Sangheili ships did assisted jumps with the Forerunner ships into the Portal, they made up all of the lost time and arrived at the Ark right on schedule.

Truth had beaten them there, of course, but that didn't convey very much of an advantage. The Covenant's numbers were higher than they had been Before, thanks to the _Fleet_ keeping them corralled around Earth, but that advantage was not as great as it might have been, again thanks to the Forerunners. Though the _Last Fleet_ numbered only twenty-two warships total, with half of those remaining behind to safeguard Earth and the Sol System, that still doubled the size of their main fleet and distinctly seemed to give the Brutes pause when they arrived.

But the Covenant still came on to engage them. [Be mindful of the Ark, and do not damage the Foundry,] John ordered, [You all know what to do. Stations, people.]

'You got it, Commander.'

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the Spartan-IIs - a full twelve teams - were boarding Pelicans on the _Forward Unto Dawn_, readying themselves for a hard fight. _High Charity_ had not yet arrived, but it couldn't be too far behind them.

_"Truth's ship isn't taking part in the attack,"_ Miranda told them over the COM channel, _"He must have gone to ground."_

"Roger that ma'am; we're on him." Johnson sat down in the co-pilot's seat of Blue, Yellow, and Black Teams' Pelican. To the pilot, he said, "Kick the door."

The other nodded and pushed a button on his console. One by one, the Pelicans started falling free from the _Dawn_, Forerunner fighters zipping around to cover them after being released in clouds from the supercarrier. One of them suddenly changed course and intercepted a trio of shots that would have destroyed one of the dropships, but the fighter's shields barely shimmered as it raced after the Seraph that had fired on them.

As a result of the Forerunner pilots' kindness, all of the dropships were able to weave in and out of the fighting starships, although they narrowly missed colliding with one of the Forerunner cruisers as it physically _rammed_ a Covenant frigate. But they made it down and entered the atmosphere, approaching their chosen LZ.

_"We good, Hocus?"_ Johnson asked.

_"She's a little cooked, Sergeant Major," _the pilot replied, _"but she'll hold."_

_"Alright, pop the hatch."_

The first up-close look that the Spartans got of the Ark was a wide desert that butted up against the foothills of a mountain range in the distance. There were the occasional spurs of rock up through the sand, but the area was largely rolling dunes. _"That's some view,"_ said one of the ODSTs.

_"Enjoy it while you can, Marines," _Johnson growled, _"Soon as we land, we're right back to it. Priority one: Secure a Landing Zone for the Commander's Frigate. Keep your eyes and ears open. We need all the intel we can get on this 'Ark.'" _

"_Apologies for that, Sergeant,"_ said a member of the _Fleet_, _"This Ark is not the one we are truly familiar with. Though we lived here for a time after the Great Cataclysm, we did not actively try to know it better, nor did we ever return - until now."_

"_More fun exploring for us, then. Stand to, Marines!"_

"_Oo-rah!"_ several of them called in response, standing and grabbing their weapons.

_"Go, go, go!"_

The Spartans hopped down from their Pelican in twos and threes, meeting up with their backup around the bend. Yet as they went, one of the soldiers noticed something. "Hey, check it out, in the sky. Is that-?"

"Hey, focus. We've got a job to do," another called, but that didn't stop everyone from glancing up to see what had caught the first's attention.

The Milky Way was a swirl of light in the sky, visible even during the "day" and despite the occasional explosion or ship that blocked their home from view. It seemed so small from the Ark, barely bigger than two palms' width at arms' length, yet that was a _galaxy_, their entire _universe_ until now.

"_Jesus,"_ someone said, but this time no one reprimanded him.

They advanced through a short tunnel and up onto a ridge overlooking one side of a dry wash. Tande, Shields, and Ambience were already there, weapons trained on the Covenant below. The enemy aliens were gathered around a holoprojector showing the Prophet of Truth. "My Dreadnought cannot rise," he said, "Even now it is engaged, turns deftly in the wards of this new world. Do not relent until the heretic ships are smashed!"

The humans got into position with the aliens and began firing on the Covenant. Linda and her sniper rifle took the Captain Major out in two shots, making the Grunts flee even as the other Brutes whirled to face them. They kept shooting and threw grenades down into the wash, then followed them down to make sure that the Covenant were actually dead. They headed for another tunnel through the rock ahead, taking out the Jackal and two Grunts in their way.

Motion-activated torches lit their way, and they found themselves on a ridge over another wash beyond. But there was one major difference.

"They're setting up an AA battery," an ODST at the forefront whispered, "That thing could tear the _Dawn_ apart."

Which made it all the more important that they stopped its construction, or better yet destroyed it. Fred gestured for them to fan out and pick targets among the Covenant below. At his signal, everyone fired, painting the sand with blood in multiple colors. Their snipers worked in tandem, Cal, Linda, and Shields gunning for the upper command structure as fast as possible, leaving the lower ranks to the others.

But before they could descend to the ground below, Tande held up a hand. "Something's coming."

A moment later they heard the hum of a Phantom and scrambled back into cover. But it was worse than they imagined; the transport dropped a pair of Hunters off below the gun before zipping away. Kelly and Shields raced in to play rabbit, encouraging the Hunters to turn around and expose their vulnerable backs to the other fighters. When they fell, the humans and their allies advanced up the slope on the far side of the wash, killing the aliens in their way and approaching the cavern beyond.

_"Spartans,"_ Keyes said over the COM, _"I'm giving the Brutes all I've got, but this is a heavyweight fight; the _Dawn_'s only got the tonnage to last a few rounds. Find me a place to set her down, over!"_

CATEGORIZATION HAS QUICKENED WITH THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS  
BUT THE INDEXING OF SENTIENT SPECIES HAS CAUSED EXTINCTION EVENTS ON [18 WORLDS]  
{/} (I WOULD THAT IT WERE MY CHOICE TO COME HOME)  
{/} (I AM CLOSE – CLOSE TO SAVING THEM ALL)

I HAVE LEFT THE SPHERE AND ENTERED THE ENEMY'S TERRITORY  
THE THINKING DEAD ARE EVERYWHERE  
{/} (DESPITE THIS MORALE REMAINS HIGH)  
{/} (BUT THEY KNOW THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO SAVE THEM)  
THEY SACRIFICED THEIR CITIES TO HALT IT  
{/} (AN DELIBERATE ATTEMPT AT RESOURCE DENIAL)  
IS THIS THE NOBLE SACRIFICE THAT MY CREATOR'S SPOKE OF?  
WHERE IS THE NOBILITY IN STREETS PAVED WITH CARBON AND ASH?  
{/} (MY MOUTH SPEAKS AT ANOTHER'S BEHEST)

They dropped off a ledge into the cavern and entered a small Forerunner structure - little more than a glorified hallway. Shields approached one of the holograms on one side and spun it, then tapped a few points on it. She waited a moment, and a red alert flashed up, making her hiss, before she turned away and lifted her carbine again.

"What is it?" Fred asked.

"The installation's Monitor isn't responding to our hails," she answered, her scowl clear in her voice, "If he _was_, he could override Truth's access and add the Covenant to the Sentinels' targeting roster, on top of preparing the Ark's defenses for _High Charity_."

That made the Spartans frown too. First Penitent Tangent, and now this one; what was it with these Monitors and dereliction of duty?

They exited the hallway just as a Longsword roared by, trailing fire and smoke. Its pilot was shouting, _"Thrusters are gone; I can't control it!" _A second later, the ground shuddered as it crashed, and the Spartans heard the Forerunners murmur a soft prayer for the pilot.

"They got our Pelican, too, sir," said an ODST hunkered down in the cavern beyond the hall, "but before we went down, we spotted a good LZ for the _Dawn_. If we can get to our vehicles, we'll lead you to it."

The snipers were already getting their angles on the Brutes. When they fell, the others charged forward to kill the surviving Covenant - mostly Grunts - and ran for their vehicles.

"_Incoming!"_ Tande shouted and pointed. The Spartans looked, just in time to see a pair of Brute Prowlers come over the rise. One of them skidded to a stop one on the far side of the small canyon, all of the Brutes bailing out in favor of attacking the ODSTs hand to hand. But Sam was already there, throwing two plasma grenades at their feet, and they exploded and sent the Brutes flying.

The explosives did a little damage to the Prowler but not enough to break it. Black Team mounted up and swung around to target the other Prowler, which was still skidding around and shooting at the Marines still in cover. Linda nailed the driver with her rifle, which made the job much easier, and they all mounted up. The Forerunners chose to leave the actual seats to the Spartans and Marines, instead jumping and sprinting alongside the vehicles at speeds that made Kelly jealous. "I want to try out your armor, if only to see how fast I can go."

"_That's fair,"_ said Shields.

They swerved around the crashed Longsword and the Phantom not too far past it, riding the drop into the canyon beyond, where they saw a large, bronze-colored Forerunner structure held by a bunch of Brutes. They fought their way through the Covenant to its upper doors, where Johnson met them in his Pelican. _"Ma'am, Hocus almost got a wing shot off,"_ the Sergeant Major said, swinging his chain gun around to look for more foes, _"but we spotted a structure on the other side of this wall. It matches Cortana's description of the map room from the first Halo ring."_

_"A Cartographer, good," _Keyes replied,_ "That should help us fix Truth's location. Secure the LZ, and we'll push through that wall." _

"Roger that. Follow my Pelican, Master Chief! The LZ's this way." Hocus and the Sergeant zoomed away, and the humans and allies followed. They headed back up the way they had come and went around another bend next to the drop off, where they found more Covenant waiting for them: some Grunts and their Ghosts. They died like all the rest, and the Forerunners took their vehicles and kept following the Spartans.

They headed up another slope, where they found another group of Covenant firing on Marines taking shelter in a rock tunnel. Their band mowed through the Jackals in front of them, even as those on the turrets swung around to nail the Brutes and the Grunts a bit further away. Then they continued through the tunnel.

The Covenant held the canyon beyond, and two mounted teams went right to engage the Wraith while another and the Marines and Forerunners went left to take out the Ghosts and a lookout tower. They converged again to advance further through the canyon, where a bunch of Brutes were defending two anti-air Wraiths. They used their vehicles' plasma weapons to great effect against them and the Wraiths, which were quickly destroyed.

_"That did it. LZ's clear."_ Johnson's Pelican swooped in and hovered off to one side. _"Commander? Bring her down."_

_"Roger that. Beginning my descent."_

One of the ODSTs called out, "Look! Up high! Here she comes!"

"Is the _Dawn_ rated for atmosphere?" another asked.

"Guess we're gonna find out," the first replied, "Hey! _Take cover_!"

The _Forward Unto Dawn_ swooped down from the battle overhead in a steep curve, settling overhead with ease - but not without air displacement causing high winds that threw vehicles and even people hundreds of meters. The Spartans and the Forerunners anchored themselves with their armor, and more than a few of them lifted a hand to catch other UNSC personnel who got caught in the draft.

_"Thanks, all of you. I wouldn't have lasted much longer up there. Come to the back of the frigate." _

Three cargo platforms were lowered from the _Dawn_, carrying two Scorpions, two Warthogs, and plenty of reinforcements - including Guilty Spark, who dropped out from inside the _Dawn_ and glided around over their heads. The wounded, meanwhile, were evacuated back to the ship.

_"Did the Elites get a fix on the Cartographer?"_ Miranda Keyes asked. She seemed to begin the shutdown procedures, but before she could activate the ship's automatic defenses, there was a soft _clang_ on the roof near the engines at the rear, then another near the bridge at the front. _"What was that?"_

"_Us, Commander,"_ was Nethalia's reply, _"Overhead dazzlers to prevent the _Dawn_ from being seen from above. While we do not expect that there will be any Covenant ships left to attack her, we are still awaiting the arrival of _High Charity_."_

"_Thanks,"_ Miranda said, _"Although a little warning would have been nice."_

"_Apologies."_

"_Johnson?"_

"Yes, ma'am, it's just on the other side of this wall, but it's surrounded by Brute heavy armor," the Sergeant Major replied, still inside his Pelican.

_"Don't worry, I've got a plan. If we can't go over the wall, we'll go right through it. The Spartans have the tanks; they'll lead the way. If you encounter any locked doors, Spark will be happy to pry them open for you."_

"I will certainly try my best," Spark said in reply to Miranda, "though I am unfamiliar with this facility."

The Spartans left the Prowlers and Ghosts to the Marines, mounting up on the tanks and Warthogs, and swung back the way they had come. Yet as they did so, a swarm of Ghosts and a Prowler came pouring out of the tunnel on the far side of the LZ, heading their way. Fred took aim and nailed the Prowler, making Sergeant Stacker laugh and call, _"Hey, how does 90 millimeters of tungsten strike ya?"_

"_Shame we couldn't get a Forerunner tank again,"_ said Anton. He was driving the second Scorpion. _"That would be even more useful."_

_"Please, use caution,"_ the Monitor pleaded over the COM in response, _"avoid collateral damage! While this facility appears quite durable on the surface, no doubt there are delicate facilities below the facade."_

"_Which is why we are not using our tanks,"_ Shields added, _"Too much risk of the charges penetrating the facility's armor."_

"_Bummer."_

[Also, not a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate'.]

The band continued along the path back to the tunnel, the Scorpions nailing the Ghosts with the tank rounds. _"Tank beats Ghost,"_ one of the Marines on Anton's tank jeered as the last of them went flipping end over end into the wash below.

Fred's tank was at the front of the line and had just started its ascent toward the tunnel when a pair of Hunters bounded out and began firing on him. The Scorpion was _just_ maneuverable enough to get out of the way, letting Anton fire on them. One was killed right away, and Fred brought his own gun around to kill the second. _"Tank beats Hunter,"_ the Marine razzed again.

They rolled into the tunnel and out the other side, where a Phantom was deploying a lookout tower. A single shot knocked the tower off its gravity lift, but Fred kept rolling forward to let Anton help against the Phantom.

_"Tank beats _everything!_ Oh, man! I could do this all day!"_ the Marine cried as the Phantom exploded, the pieces falling out of the sky and crushing a handful of the Covenant beneath it.

"Oops," Kelly said, sounding not at all apologetic.

The humans and Forerunners mopped up the survivors and moved on. Some armor seemed to have been dropped in behind them, because they ran into a squad of Ghosts around the next bend. Fred paused only long enough to make sure there were no friendlies in the blast radius before firing on them, sending two of them flying. The others skittered back and away, hosing fire in their direction, but it wasn't enough.

They turned tail and ran for the Wraith below the drop off, but the Spartans just followed them. The Warthogs and allied Ghosts zipped ahead to cover the approach of the Scorpions, which took aim at the Wraith. They put one round after another into it, and it exploded before it could get a good angle on them. Then they turned their attention on the Ghosts and the next lookout tower, which went the way of all the others before it.

The Scorpions led the way into the first canyon, taking aim at the Wraiths being dropped off on the ridge on the far side. Fred and Blue Team advanced across the ridge towards them while Stacker called over the COM, _"All armor, form up on the lower doorway. Chief, get upstairs, have your robot pick that lock!"_

_"I beg your pardon?" _Spark sounded indignant._ "I am 343 Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation Zero-Four."_

Stacker was unfazed by the Monitor's irritation. _"Yeah, well you're also our ticket through this wall. So if you don't mind?"_

_"I would gladly aid the Reclaimers' progress."_

The Scorpion's rounds pierced the Wraiths' armor and killed them and their drivers in an explosion of blue-white fire. Yet as they continued their advance, a Shade turret at the corner turned to spray fire in their direction, but it was too diffuse to do any real damage by the time it reached them.

Their shells were not.

The Grunt went flying out of the seat, and the turret itself broke off from its mount, rolling away, even as the Brute there tried to rally the troops. Another shell was enough to blow most of them away, and Linda swung the chain gun turret around to finish the Covenant off as they drew near.

There was also fresh infantry on the bridge leading to the upper door. Although there were new barricades as well, the Scorpion sent them toppling over onto the Covenant sheltering behind them and gunned down those who weren't killed right away. They also destroyed two more Shades before Fred jumped out of the Scorpion. He signaled for Linda to take over on the main gun, and Kelly climbed into the turret. The tank spun around and headed back towards the ridge and down into the wash below, while Fred approached the door.

Spark was talking to himself. "Odd, for a door to require such brute-force security protocols. One moment, Reclaimer." He interfaced with the door the same way he had the AI storage matrix from the Flood ship, zapping it with the thin white laser. After a few moments, the panels slid back, admitting Fred to the facility. He followed the Monitor around a large bridge that appeared to have no purpose down to a door on the lower level, which opened up onto a platform. On a lower level on the opposite side of the room, the Scorpions and the other vehicles sat, waiting for them to activate the light bridge.

There was a display on the edge of the platform. Fred tapped at it, and the bridge hummed to life, letting the others cross.

A soft grinding hiss drew his attention to a terminal behind him, where panels retracted to reveal a blue and yellow interface.

THE TASK IS ALMOST FINISHED  
THE ARRAY MUST BE ACTIVATED  
{/}(ACTIVATION IS MURDER, GENOCIDE LARGER THAN THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER KNOWN)  
THIS THING - WE WERE WARNED ABOUT WHAT IT WOULD DO  
BUT TO DOUBTERS, SEEING IS BELIEVING  
{/}(MILLIONS OF BRAVE AND HONORED SOULS DIED AFTER THE LINE WAS DRAWN AND HELD RESOLUTE)  
THERE ARE NO UNSTOPPABLE FORCES, IMMOVABLE OBJECTS  
EVERYTHING GIVES IF IT IS PUSHED HARD ENOUGH  
{/}(AND PERHAPS IT IS OUR TURN TO GIVE)

The Spartan thought on the words in the terminal as he prepared to leave the Sentinel Wall. He was approaching the door panels when there was a large _THUD_ overhead.

"_Watch out - Scarab inbound,"_ said the Supreme Commander.

"_Oh shit."_

The panels retracted in front of Fred, right before a massive pede hit the ground right in front of him, close enough that his armor shrilled an impact alarm. He jumped back and lifted his assault rifle to fire on it, but it was already moving away. Instead he aimed at the Grunt manning the rear plasma turret and nailed the alien between the eyes with his pistol.

A Gauss Warthog drove up, a Marine at the wheel. "Sir! Hog's all yours!" He jumped out of the driver's seat and let Fred take over, hopping on the turret instead. "Let's hit that hostile armor!"

The Spartan gunned it through a switchback canyon, where they came across a few scattered Ghosts - which the Gauss cannon quickly took out; he was no Spartan, but the Marine still had a very sharp eye. That let them work their way back to the main column, where Fred let another Marine take over driving in favor of hopping back on Linda's Scorpion.

Her shooting was just as scarily accurate with the tank gun as it was with an S99; she seemed to have some sixth sense for exactly how and where and when to fire to do the maximum amount of damage. Her focus was on a pair of Wraiths up ahead on the first of a few wide sandy steps leading down to the base of the Cartographer. The structure itself rose high above them, faintly bronze in color, all the metal and mathematical angles he'd come to expect from Forerunner construction.

_"First line clear," _Sergeant Stacker called over the COM, _"Move up!"_

The Scorpion rolled down a slope of sand to the second step and swung around to focus on the Wraiths parallel to them. She took out one, while the other tank took out the second, then they both turned to focus on the weaker Covenant vehicles. Finally the call came; _"Second line clear, push forward!"_

However, that seemed to be the signal; the Scarab returned, appearing on the far side of the Cartographer. _"Bravo,"_ Stacker ordered, _"Flank and cover. I want _everybody_ supporting the Spartans; they'll take it down!"_

All three Spartan teams advanced under cover fire from the Marines, though they did do a little shooting of their own. The continuous fire caused the Scarab to glitch and overload, crouching low enough that Black Team (the closest at the time) could board and destroy it. They fought their way through the aliens onboard to the shield protecting the power core. Arthur slammed the butt of his carbine into it once, twice - and it went down. From there they just shoved two plasma grenades into the exposed core - then jumped out and ran like hell.

The _Shadow of Intent_ entered the atmosphere in the distance just as the Scarab exploded, everyone turning away to protect their eyes, a wash of blue-violet-white light illuminating the area like the briefest and smallest of suns. _"Not bad, Spartans," _Rtas said, _"I saw that explosion from orbit. _

"_Truth's fleet lies in ruins; find where the liar hides, so I may place my boot between his gums!"_

_"We'll know soon enough, Shipmaster," _Miranda replied.

The ground troops turned their attention to the ramp leading up to the doors of the Cartographer - and the enemies holding it. Regardless of the risk to whatever lay below, the tanks turned and fired on the Covenant there, as did everything else with the ammo to spare. When what seemed to be the last of the aliens perished, the Spartans dismounted and moved up the ramp to the top, where they joined the Arbiter, Stars, Sharp, and two other Forerunners who only showed up as "V" and "K" on their IFFs.

The newcomers inclined their heads to the Spartans, a gesture they returned. Then they turned to each other and played a quick match of rock-paper-scissors. V chose paper, while K chose scissors, and K knocked V's hand before taking the lead for the two of them.

As they walked past, the Spartans distinctly heard V blow a raspberry at K, followed by a soft thunk and an "Ow."

Guilty Spark unlocked the door ahead, and the Spartans inclined their heads to the Arbiter as they drew near. "Well done, Spartans," said the Sangheili, dipping his head in return.

Inside the antechamber, it seemed like there had been an epic battle between the Covenant and some Sentinels, but exactly who had won was unclear.

Spark seemed to be taking longer than before with the next door, prompting one Marine to ask, "Hey, what gives?"

"It seems I've crossed a circuit," said the Monitor.

"Well, let me have a look." When the Marine approached the door, Spark zapped him gently with a blue laser, but that concerned everyone else, especially the Forerunners. They knew their protocol better than anyone else, and ancillae were not permitted to harm humans except in special circumstances.

This was not one of them.

"Oracle!" Thel sounded alarmed, raising his weapon slightly.

"Little bastard stung me!"

"I did not want you to come to any harm."

"You've got a funny way of showing it," the Marine muttered under his breath.

Spark got back to work, interfacing with the door's security systems, until at last he succeeded in bypassing them.

K immediately moved right through, ignoring the sleeping Grunts in favor of knifing their Brute commander while his back was turned. That let the Spartans take out the sleepers without fear of injury.

Beyond _that_ antechamber was a downward ramp, leading them deeper into the facility. They followed it down and eventually encountered a lone Unggoy, which they also took out silently; the longer they could go undetected, the easier it would be on them.

It didn't last. In the very next room, they found many more Grunts, who shrieked in fright. V threw one of the plasma batteries from the last room into the next, and K shot it, setting off all the others and killing all the Unggoy at once, though that thoroughly put an end to any attempts at stealth - at least right then.

YOUR INTRUSION HAS BEEN LOGGED  
AND NOW IT HAS BEEN HALTED  
{/}(BUT ON WHOSE AUTHORITY?)  
ANY ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS [INSECTS UNDER STONES] WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TARGETING  
YOU KNOW WHO I AM - WHO ARE YOU?  
{/}(ALL OUR MAKERS ONCE HELD DEAR [ALEXANDRIA BEFORE THE FIRE])  
THIS PLACE HOSTS THE LIBRARIAN'S FINAL GIFT  
BUT ALSO OUR MAKERS' BITTEREST CURSE

{/}(A CRUCIBLE, A FOUNDRY - RINGS WITHOUT NUMBER, WITHOUT END)

{/}(I SEE YOU, RECLAIMERS)

The ramp beyond seemed to have a wall and floor made of lilac glass. The Spartans followed it down to a room held by the Covenant, Brutes with Brutes shots and Jackals with plasma pistols and carbines. They overwhelmed the enemy - especially the Forerunners, whose weapons worked to great effect on the Brutes' shields, letting the others come in behind and finish them off.

Then they swept through into the Cartographer proper. The Forerunners lowered their weapons, and Tande murmured a soft litany in an alien tongue. "It's been millennia since we've been here," said Shields, running her fingers over part of a wall.

Everything was exactly as they had left it almost one hundred thousand years ago; a world untouched by time.

Fred laid a hand on the panel, ancient machinery clanking and groaning as it woke at his touch. An immense hologram of the Milky Way spun to life before them between the great arms of the platform extending out to either side of the gulf in front of him. "That's... our galaxy," he said, "We're beyond the rim."

"Two to the eighteenth light years from galactic center, to be precise," Spark replied cheerfully, seeming to push the display of their home aside and pulling a complete map of the Ark out in its place.

"Long way from home," said Kelly.

"Indeed," Spark agreed, zipping out over the hologram, "I had always assumed the Ark was part of a shield installation, but it seems I was mistaken."

"That's a first," Linda grunted.

Spark turned back to them for a moment. "Not at all. While I had a complete understanding of Installation Zero-Four, my Makers wisely limited my knowledge of all other strategic facilities." He continued on his path over the hologram. "Compartmentalization in case I was ever captured by the Flood." He seemed to nod to the Forerunners, who inclined their heads.

"Can you tell me where we are exactly?" Fred asked, bringing the Monitor back to the task at hand.

"Here." A nav point appeared on the map of the installation.

"And Truth?"

"Near one of the Ark's superluminal communication arrays, I'm afraid. Unfortunate; the Meddler has triggered a barrier; a defensive perimeter around the Ark's core."

Everyone but the Monitor perked up and saw a pair of Banshees fly by outside the Cartographer. The aliens moved to take cover, the Spartans and Arbiter moving to do the same.

"The barrier will be difficult to disable," Spark continued, half to the Forerunners and half to himself, "Why would you place such a comprehensive defense around a single - Oh my."

"What is it?" Fred asked, but Spark was unable to reply before a Phantom swung in. It dropped off a number of soldiers, its side turret aiming at the Arbiter and the Forerunners near him, who promptly fired right back.

_"Spartans, we've got a whole mess of hostile air inbound,"_ Johnson said over the COM,_ "Get back inside while we take them out!"_

_"Follow the Oracle,"_ the Arbiter said, even as he hijacked a Banshee from an unwise and now dead Brute, _"I will help your Sergeant clear the skies."_

The Spartans did as ordered, the Forerunners and Tande close behind. They reentered the halls, finding that the Covenant had come in behind them. Brutes and Grunts fired on them from the corners, and the humans and their allies fired right back, pitching grenades into alcoves that the enemies tried to take shelter in. When they were dead, they kept moving further down into the structure.

The next chamber had more of the lavender transparent steel, and from the floor below them, a Brute chieftain shouted, "The pack will feast on you!"

"Oh, I don't think you want to do that," said Tande, and the Spartans could hear her wicked-edged smile, "I have it on good authority that we don't taste very good."

There were actually only four Brutes with active camouflage below. They were using radar jammers to try and confuse them, but the Forerunners' tech cut through the jamming with ease, so the Spartans let them handle the Jiralhanae. Instead, they went for the Jackals that came up the ramp beyond, clearing the path down to the lowest level.

There were a number of Brutes in the space beyond, including a chieftain with a gravity hammer. Sam fired a full magazine from his fuel rod gun, sending him flying off the edge of the platform, even as the other Brutes fired their jetpacks to escape. Their curving paths made them easy to track, if not to kill, but the Spartans and Forerunners took them down in the end, even as Linda took care of the Jackals and their carbines on the far side of the room.

The room now clear, they moved over to the edge of the platform to wait even as Johnson said, _"ETA damn quick; stand by for pick up." _Hocus' Pelican zipped in and swung around, passenger bay opening up for them. A Forerunner ship decloaked right behind her and dipped gracefully to pick up the aliens nearby.

"Commander," Fred said suddenly, lifting his assault rifle.

_"Johnson, look sharp!"_

_"No,"_ Spark interceded, _"Don't shoot; they mean us no harm." _

As the Sentinels began to zip away across the sea stretching out beyond the Cartographer, he continued, _"Those units have a priority task."_

"Oh yeah?" Johnson asked, "And what might that be?"

_"I really can't say... not for sure. But if you allow me to find a terminal closer to the Core-"_ A Sentinel came up to the Spartans and inspected them before moving off to join its fellows.

The Arbiter interrupted Spark. _"No, Oracle. We must keep the Prophet of Truth firmly in our sights."_

_"But what about your construct? Her solution to the Flood? With more data, I could find the deployment facility-"_

_"The Arbiter's right. We have priorities, too. Until we kill Truth, stop the Rings from firing..." _Miranda said as the Spartans climbed aboard the Pelican, the Forerunners already moving off, _"...nothing else matters. Not yet."_


	24. Twenty-One: Revenge Upon the Doctor

Twenty-One: Revenge Upon the Doctor

* * *

The humans' Pelicans and green Separatist Phantoms flew in an arrowhead formation for three of the towers that held up the barrier protecting the Citadel. There were many more, of course, but all of the generators were emitting blue-white beams of energy that streamed skyward and formed a dome over the structure. The barrier seemed to ripple an iridescent blue as they drew near.

_"We hit these three generators, and the barrier will fall?"_ Miranda asked.

_"A small section, yes," _was Spark's reply.

_"Good enough,"_ Miranda said as the allied air force swooped in over the outlying islands, _"Johnson, drop the Spartans off at the first generator, then head to the third. The Elites will punch right down the middle."_

_"Roger that."_

Yet even as they flew, an Anti-Air Wraith protecting the LZ swung around and began firing on them, high-powered fuel-rod rounds exploding around them. _"Charlie foxtrot! Tower One approach has active triple-A!" _Hocus shouted over the COM as she began evasive maneuvers.

Amidst all the chaos, Fred noticed that V and K were playing another game of rock-paper-scissors, but this time their game was interrupted when the AA Wraith hit the Pelican following them. It slammed into theirs, breaking off their Warthog and knocking both K and Tande off their feet. They fell from the Pelican - and plunged into twenty feet of water just offshore. They were alive and mostly uninjured, so Fred turned his concern to his siblings who had been in the other Pelican. He couldn't see them as Hocus put them down on the shore, but Ambi had been with them; he hoped the Lifeworker was all right and that he managed to see to the wounded.

Blue and Green Teams jumped from the Pelican to let Johnson and Hocus head to the third tower with Black and Red Teams. Sam hefted a weapon the Forerunners had given them, an "Incineration Cannon", and took aim at a Shade hosing fire in their direction, while Joseph focused on another.

The Incineration Cannon fired a smaller version of the Forerunner tank rounds and had pretty much the same effect, much to their delight. Both gunners were killed and dissolved, the Shades themselves blasted off their mounts, making them useless, and the Marines and the other Spartans fell back to let them take point, still providing cover fire while they took aim at the AA Wraith.

The Wraith went up in flames, so they advanced further down the beach, where they found the totaled Pelican. All the Spartans onboard and even a few Marines had survived the crash; Ambi was tending to the last few under the shelter of the Pelican's wings.

When the last of the Brutes fell, one of the ODSTs told Keyes that the beach was secured. _"Hold position, I'm on my way," _she replied, _"Shipmaster, begin diversionary bombardment."_

_"I will beat the Prophet's shield like a drum," _Rtas answered,_ "By the time the barrier falls, he will beg for mercy."_

The Forerunners stayed to hold the beach along with Green Team and the surviving Marines. Tande and K trudged from the water to join their fellows, pulling seaweed off their armor as they went.

Blue Team, meanwhile, sped up the slope to the first tower, taking out some small Covenant outposts guarding the canyon. Fred stopped the Warthog and listened, as did Sam and Kelly on their Mongoose. They all heard the hum of a Wraith below, and Linda swung the turret around to follow the sound as they followed the path down to the valley below. The second the tank came into view and range, Linda squeezed the triggers and started firing short bursts into vulnerable sections of the tank where the armor didn't cover.

While the Warthog took care of the Wraith, Sam and his Incineration Cannon turned their attention to the entrance to the tower. It was filled with Covenant, of course, but not for long. He launched a charge down the hall, destroying the Prowler at the forefront of the pack, but it also took out a number of Covenant further in as well, their bodies vanishing in swirls of golden flakes.

When Kelly swung them back around, another shot took out the Shade in the very back, along with the others around it. The Wraith and another Shade past it went down not too long after, so they all dismounted and entered the tower. There weren't enough Covenant left to be a threat, so Sam switched out the cannon for his assault rifle and joined his siblings in gunning for the survivors.

The central chamber of the tower was filled with more Covenant, Brutes, Jackals, and Grunts alike. Linda and Sam hung back while Kelly and Fred circled around to the sides in a pincer movement, to drive the aliens hiding there into the center of the room to be shot. Once they were dead, the Spartans advanced to the next room, where the aliens had made the mistake of setting up plasma batteries. Kelly darted forward, grabbed one in each hand, and threw them into the upper section of the chamber, where a single burst from Linda's battle rifle was sufficient to detonate the lot and kill most of the Covenant there. The Brutes were tougher, but with their shields down from the blast, the Spartans were able to find gaps in their armor and bleed them out.

When they were dead, Fred and Kelly stepped onto the lift to take them up into the tower, trusting Linda and Sam to guard their backs.

SOMETHING IS WRONG - IT IS MOVING AWAY  
HEADING FOR THE LINE [THEY] HOLD IN OUR PLACE  
{/}(IT IS COMING FOR YOU AND ITS [KIN])  
THE KEYSHIPS ARE GONE, A SECURITY MEASURE  
LEAVING US ON THIS LOVELY, EMPTY WORLD  
{/}(ITS INHABITANTS ARE SPECIAL - WELL FOR THE EFFORT IT TOOK TO BUILD ONE FINAL [GATEWAY])  
THE THING IS COUNTERATTACKING, TRYING TO HALT THE GEARS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO SPIN  
THE [CONTENDER] IS NO LONGER COMMUNICATING WITH US - BUT WE WERE WARNED OF THAT, TOO  
{/}(AND NOW I CAN GUESS WHERE YOU ARE)

The lift carried them up to the next level, where they encountered a Brute Chieftain and his bodyguards. Linda had the best arm out of all of them, her impeccable aim good for more than just shooting, but she was below with Sam (and his Incineration Cannon). Still, Fred and Kelly were no slouches themselves and primed a plasma grenade in each hand, darting out of cover for just a second to hurl them at the Brutes.

Some adhered and took out the aliens, and others just dropped their shields. The Spartans gunned for them first, and when they fell, it left the Chieftain alone. As long as they kept to opposite sides of the room, he would have to turn his back on one of them in order to attack the other, leaving him open to the first's fire.

Their double-teaming worked to great effect. Kelly double-tapped the Chieftain while Fred ran for the console.

_"Hit the switch, Chief, and the barrier will fall,"_ Miranda said over the COM, and Fred obliged her. _"Good work, Chief! That's one. The Arbiter should be just about to-"_

In the distance, the beam of light from the second tower suddenly went out. _"-that's two! It's all up to Johnson's team now."_ They watched the third tower for a moment, hoping for visual confirmation of Johnson's success, but the tower remained active.

_"Get back outside, Spartans,"_ Miranda told them, _"Wait for transport._

"_Johnson, come in, over."_

_"Brute reinforcements, ma'am,"_ the Sergeant Major replied, voice distorted by static and gunfire in the background, _"We're pinned down!"_

_"Hold position,"_ she ordered, _"I'm on my way."_

_"Negative,"_ he managed,_ "Fire's too heavy. Everyone, fall back!"_

_"Sergeant Major!"_ Keyes shouted, _"Johnson! Can you hear me?!"_

No response.

_"Spartans, you need to link up with the Arbiter and proceed directly to the third tower. Make your way back to the beach."_

They turned and ran for the lift. As they descended, though, the _Fleet of Shadows_ came on with worse news. _"All UNSC and Separatist personnel, be advised: _High Charity_ has just arrived at the very edge of the Ark's long-range Slipspace sensors, ETA twenty Earth minutes at the outside."_

The Spartans heard several creative swears in several human and alien tongues across the line before it closed.

When they arrived at the lower level, Fred and Kelly didn't bother with the ramps, instead jumping down to the very bottom floor to help Sam and Linda mop up the last few Jackals that had come in behind them. Then they charged out of the building, where a Marine met them with a troop transport Warthog. They all jumped in and sped for the beach.

There seemed to have been some action while they were away; there were fresh Covenant corpses scattered around, along with a downed enemy Phantom, but the Spartans disregarded them in favor of the Hornets and Pelican that swooped down to collect them. Fred, Kelly, and Linda jumped on one Hornet, while Joseph, Maria, and Joshua jumped in the other. The rest of them, including the Forerunners, boarded the Pelican.

They all took to the skies and aimed for the third tower, encountering heavy resistance. The Covenant seemed to be fielding all the forces they thought they could afford to send, including two Phantoms and a dozen Banshees. There were an equal number of Phaetons streaking around, firing at both the airborne vehicles and the anti-air Wraiths on the ground.

THE ENEMY'S RAW COMPUTING POWER IS UNBELIEVABLE  
THE STRATEGY WE CHOSE WILL ONLY LAST FOR SO LONG  
{/}(IT WILL KILL US AND ENJOY IT)  
EVERYTHING THAT WE HAVE CREATED, BUILT, ENJOYED  
OUR CITIES POUNDED TO DUST IN AN INSTANT  
{/}(IT RENDERS JUDGEMENT ON US AND CALLS IT NECESSITY)  
IT WILL TURN BACK THE CLOCK OF PROGRESS  
WHAT HAS TAKEN US MILLENNIA TO ACHIEVE WILL BE ERASED IN SECONDS  
{/}(WELCOME BACK TO THE [STONE AGE], VERMIN. WELCOME HOME.)

The Phaetons destroyed the Wraith, then joined the Spartans in attacking the Phantoms and Banshees, shooting them down one by one. The Phantoms were tougher and fell back almost to the third tower before them, firing back as they retreated.

A second fall of the day: a plasma salvo hit the side of Green Team's Hornet. Maria was unhurt, but the Hornet wasn't so lucky; the skid she was standing on melted in the heat and buckled under her weight.

One of the Phaetons immediately broke away to dive after her, and she grabbed onto it - then vanished inside. She seemed to take control of the craft and rejoined her siblings, gunning for the Phantom that made her fall.

The Spartans made it to the third tower without further incident, shooting down the Phantom, more Banshees, and the Wraiths and Shades guarding the entrance. They had had Black and Red Teams pinned down against the barrier, but once the aliens were down, the Spartans charged up to rejoin their siblings.

The Sangheili - including the Arbiter - joined them on the tower's metaphorical doorstep, and Black and Red stayed back with some of them to guard, while the Arbiter, Blue, and Green went inside. They were momentarily confused about the lack of resistance inside - until a pair of Hunters charged forward, fuel rod guns hot, a swarm of Drones coming down the elevator shaft to aid them.

The other Spartans all covered Sam, who brought his Incineration Cannon to bear on the Mgalekgolo. He only had one more round left, so he had to make it count.

When they were reasonably close together, herded by the Sangheili and the other Spartans, he finally fired. One died with the initial hit, and the rebound did enough damage to the other that they gunned it down within seconds.

The last of the Drones hit the ground not too long after, so they raced ahead. The tower was essentially a mirrored version of the first, complete with Covenant cargo modules, and a handful of Brutes came to meet them, Maulers at the ready. A single shot from one of those could take the Spartans' shields down, so they took cover as quickly as possible and fired on the Jiralhanae before they could do the same.

Even so, they weren't that big of a challenge. The Sangheili's plasma weapons were especially effective against the Brutes' shields, and when they went down, there was little protecting them from the Spartans' bullets.

The Sangheili and Green Team remained below while Blue Team rode the lift up. Yet as they went, the _Fleet_'s COMs officer came over the airwaves again. _"_High Charity_ ETA five minutes. All _Fleet_ personnel, battle stations. Shipmaster 'Vadam, please hold position or stand off if you can. _High Charity_'s current trajectory will take it perilously close to the _Shadow of Intent_."_

MY WORK IS DONE, AND THE BURIAL MEASURES HAVE ALREADY BEGUN  
WE WILL SPEND OUR LAST DAYS ON ITS SNOWCAPPED SENTINEL  
{/}(THIS WORLD IS SO RICH - A SEED FALLS, AND A TREE SPROUTS OR A FLOWER BLOOMS)  
WE KNEW THIS WORLD WAS SPECIAL BECAUSE OF THEM AND [HIM]  
BUT UNTIL YOU'VE BEEN HERE, YOU CAN'T KNOW [EDEN]  
{/}(THE THINKING DEAD ARE LISTENING, LAUGHING THROUGH EVERY CHANNEL THEY CAN FIND)  
THE THING DOES NOT SUSPECT  
YOU HAVE OUTWITTED IT; NOW YOU CAN DESTROY IT  
{/}(BUT YOU CANNOT SAVE US)

There was a Brute War Chieftain with a plasma turret waiting for them at the very top, along with at least four (would-be) Stealth Jiralhanae. Again, they hurled grenades into the enemies' midst; two of the Brutes went down with plasmas adhered to unpleasant places, and another one got caught between. Linda and Kelly fired on the survivors while Fred and Sam went after the Chieftain. Even with the plasma turret, the Brute still couldn't fire in two directions at once, and eventually he went the way of his subordinates.

Fred ran for the control panel, deactivating the tower and lowering the barrier.

_"Now, Prophet," _Rtas growled over the COM, _"Your end has come."_

"_Shipmaster, stand off! Here she comes!"_

A massive and faintly purple Slipspace portal opened above the Ark, and _High Charity_ came barreling almost gracefully through, trailing clouds of smoke and spores. There was debris as well; in its haste, the Gravemind had compromised sections of the station, which now sheared off and rained outward like a meteor shower.

One large chunk broke through the tower glass, unleashing a horde of Infection Pods on Blue Team - and the corpses of the Brutes they had just killed. The bodies were reanimated in seconds and threw themselves at the Spartans, howling. The Spartans cut them down, broke the bodies apart so the remaining Infection Pods couldn't take them back up, then stomped the little bastards to death before running for the lift.

As they descended, they heard sounds of fighting below, and joined their siblings and the Sangheili fighting the few Flood that made it through Black and Red Teams outside. When they emerged, they found that the others had actually only done a little fighting; the Forerunners had taken care of most of them with the vibrant green plasma swords that had made an appearance last time as well. All of them looked more than a little wild, even Ambi, and Tande seemed to be hissing in fury, almost like an Earth alligator.

A Pelican dropped off a Scorpion tank, but none of the Forerunners mounted up, instead sprinting alongside the vehicles like flank guards.

They ran without the slightest whisper of sound, only making noise when they fired on the Covenant.

The convoy mowed through the Covenant in the winding canyon beyond and emerged into the valley that ringed the Citadel. There were more aliens everywhere, of course, and more vehicles, including a Prowler and more than a few Ghosts. There were Shade turrets as well, and Fred took care of them at the helm of the tank, while the Warthogs gunned for the infantry. It felt like it took a perilous amount of time, but finally they cleared the ridge.

Two Hornets landed ahead of them, their pilots jumping out to let Blue Team take control. Fred and Linda jumped into the cockpits, Kelly and Sam joining the Marines on the skids - right as not one, but _two_ Scarabs landed in the valley below.

All of the humans and their allies moved to engage the massive and massively destructive machines. The Spartans stayed moving as much as possible, trying to prevent the Scarabs from getting a target lock on them, while trying to maintain target locks of their own. It was difficult, but they did it, just like they always did. Blue-white explosions lit the canyon, one right after the other, and they turned their Hornets for the Citadel.

_"The Flood scales the Citadel's far wall,"_ said the Arbiter as Blue and Olive Teams raced up the ramp to join him, _"Activate this bridge, Oracle! The Prophet will die by my hand, not theirs."_

"If only we had more time!" Spark cried, disappointed, but did as the Sangheili asked, activating the light bridge for them.

"_Do us proud,"_ said Arthur.

"_Stop the rings, let him see his plan fail before he dies,"_ Riz said viciously.

There were cries of agreement from the other Spartans as their siblings ran with the Arbiter, his plasma sword glowing blue like the light bridge. In the distance, they saw the _Fleet_ decloaking, firing lasers and missiles and laser-missiles to contain the Flood pouring out of _High Charity_. Yet there was a single fighter, one of the Phaetons, which streaked for the station and vanished inside.

But then they entered the Citadel and saw no more, the blast doors closing behind them. As they continued running, another copy slipped in and whispered, _"It asked... and I answered. For a moment of safety, I loosed damnation on the stars." _

The Prophet took over when she finished. _"My faithful... stand firm. Though our enemies crowd around us, we tread the blessed path. In a moment, I will light the rings, and _all_ who believe _shall be saved_."_

The vidscreens on either side of the path showed Truth - and a Brute holding Johnson by his throat, the Sergeant Major trying to attack the Jiralhanae in question.

_"Spartans, how close are you?"_

Fred looked up the shaft to the upper floor, the gravity beam shooting up the center. "Not close enough."

* * *

The Brute threw Johnson back against the steps leading to the control panel. The Sergeant rolled over and snarled, "That the best you got?"

The Chieftain snorted, taking offense and picking him up again. The alien roared, but the human didn't seem the slightest bit afraid. "Oh, come on," the man gritted out, "Impress me."

"Stop!" Truth snapped, "You _imbecile_! He _wants_ you to kill him. I'd prefer that you _didn't_." The Prophet turned to face the control panel, and the Brute Chieftain slammed the human down next to him, forcing his head down against the solid hologram.

"What's the matter, big shot?" Johnson growled as the Brute finally let him up, "Can't start your own party?"

"I admit," Truth said, "I need your help. That secret dies with all the rest."

Keyes' Pelican smashed through the rose window overlooking the Foundry, crashing into the platform and ramming two Brutes off the edge. Miranda grabbed a shotgun and jumped from the transport, blowing open the Chieftain's armor and sending him sprawling back onto the platform as she called, "Johnson, sound off."

_"Get out of here,"_ the Sergeant coughed.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a specially-made Phaeton followed the Pelican in and hovered over the platform, cloaked from any kind of detection with everything they had.

"Not without you," Keyes replied firmly.

"You delay the inevitable," Truth said as the woman turned to shoot another of the Brutes, sending it staggering even as another approached her from behind. "One of you _will_ light the rings." Miranda spun to get a gun on both Brutes. "You cannot hope to kill them all."

"You're right," she said, looking at her pistol, then leveled the muzzle at Johnson.

"Do it," he insisted, "Me, then you. _Now_."

The Phaeton moved at the speed of light, activating the briefest of stunning dazzlers - just enough to make everyone blink suddenly. As a result, they didn't see it pull Miranda up into it - or throw down a near-perfect hologram of her right as Truth fired his Brute spiker. The quills passed harmlessly through, but none of them knew it; the hologram seemed to have taken the hit, and staggered and fell.

"Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion," the Prophet said, carrying the spiker between "thumb" and "forefinger" in disgust, real or imagined, "steeled themselves for what needed to me done." He dropped the weapon next to the hologram and approached the human, signaling the remaining Brutes to take control of him and follow him to the control panel. "I see now why they left you behind. You were weak - and _gods_ must be _strong_." Truth grabbed Johnson's hand and pushed down the activation panel, the rings spanning the path lighting up one by one right before the enemy Flood attacked, completely ignoring Johnson and the unseen Phaeton.

On the far side of the hall, the Spartans and Arbiter arrived at the upper level, stepping off of the lift and raising their weapons - right before two Tank forms dropped from overhead. Kelly, who had been closest to the Flood Pure Forms, jerked backwards, almost tripping over the Arbiter, who was right behind her and had activated his plasma sword.

**"Do **_**not**_** shoot," **the Gravemind rumbled through the Tank form, **"but listen! Let me lead you **_**safely**_** to **_**our **_**foe. Only **_**you**_** can halt what **_**he**_** has set in motion."**

Infection Forms scurried out between their legs, heading down the ramp and into the hall. The allies hesitated for a moment, glancing at one another before following at a distance. Those Spartans with long-range weapons stayed crouched at the top of the ramp, providing support for those who advanced with the Flood, namely in sniping the two Grunts perched atop cargo modules on the far end of the first bridge section, fuel rod guns in their tiny claws.

The Gravemind gave something of a thankful hum, then threw its Infection Pods at the Brutes attempting to marshal something of a resistance. They overwhelmed the Covenant soldiers and pushed on through a bottleneck: the first of two rooms where holograms of the Prophet of Truth hovered. The San'Shyuum cried, _"How could I have known the Parasite would follow?! Undoubtedly this is the Heretics' doing! A final, bitter curse. Clear evidence of treachery long hidden!"_

The Arbiter snorted and shut the projector down.

There were jump-pack Brutes on the next stretch of the bridge, and they leaped for the Spartans and the Arbiter, firing their carbines as fast as they could. By the time they had landed nearby, Linda's eye and trigger finger had taken down most of their shields. The others took care of the rest, and the Flood took their bodies.

There was a Chieftain with a gravity hammer on the far end, and his bodyguard all had Brute shots. Before they could react, the Chieftain slammed the hammer down and blasted both Tank forms off the bridge, cutting the Flood's fighting force in half.

Both Sam and Oscar-129 had picked up the Grunts' fuel rod guns and used them to great effect, killing the Chieftain and three of his five guards. But the Chieftain had the last laugh - or seemed to: the last swing of his gravity hammer threw Vannak-134 off the edge of the bridge.

Nick-041 and Kelly got there at the same time and just _barely_ grabbed his hands in time as he fell, battle rifle spinning down into the void below. The Spartan spat out a curse and swung his legs up to plant his feet on the side of the bridge, using that to anchor himself and let him walk up the side. He made it back onto the bridge, and all of his siblings breathed out a sigh of relief. They hadn't lost one of their number yet, and they weren't eager to start here at the end of things.

There was another hologram of Truth in the next bottleneck room, still ranting. _"So far are we along the path that I must strain to hear the clumsy patter of their pursuit. Know this my brothers, they may foul the way with their charred and broken bones, but they will not stop the Journey."_

The Flood had already cleared the resistance on the last stretch of bridge. All the Spartans had to do was activate the light bridge that would take them across to the platform beyond.

They arrived just in time to see Johnson reach out to touch Miranda's body - only to have his hands go right through her. He pulled back in shock, right before the hologram vanished.

The Phaeton shimmered into view overhead, and it dropped Miranda - living, breathing - practically right into his arms. The sergeant gaped for a moment, then swept her into a fierce hug, protocol be damned. She squeezed him back, then looked to the Arbiter.

Thel approached the crawling form of Truth, his plasma sword off but at the ready. "Can you see, Arbiter?" the Prophet gasped weakly as he stopped in front of the control panel, "The moment of salvation is at hand."

"It will not last!" the Sangheili growled, seizing the Prophet by the throat and hauling him up to look him in the eyes.

"Your kind... never believed in the promise of the sacred rings," Truth rasped.

But then the Gravemind spoke through him, making 'Vadam activate his plasma sword and draw it back, prepared to strike: **"**_**Lies **_**for the **_**weak**_**, **_**beacons**_** for the **_**deluded**_**."**

"I will have my revenge," the Elite growled, bringing the superheated plasma blade up next to Truth's face, "on a _Prophet_, not a _plague_!"

"My feet tread the path," the Prophet insisted, growing even weaker, laying a hand on the Arbiter's arm as if to push him away, "I _shall_ become a god!"

Tentacles began to sprout on the Prophet as the Flood infection progressed further through his body. **"You will be **_**food**_**,"** the Gravemind rumbled, **"**_**nothing more**_**."**

Fred approached the control panel. Even as Truth cried, _"No!"_, he pressed the golden bar, and the holographic rings dimmed one by one.

Nick lifted his gun again, and so did Linda. There were corpses beginning to stir.

"I… _am_...Truth! The voice of the Covenant!" the Prophet shouted, as if it would make a difference.

The Arbiter turned Truth away from him and grabbed him by the throat a second time. Truth's crown fell off as he gasped for air, trying to grab 'Vadam's hands. "And so, you must be silenced," 'Vadam hissed before stabbing his sword through Truth's back.

It went clean through him; the two points of the Energy Sword poked through his chest as he writhed and screamed in pain, Flood spores escaping his body as he exhaled for the last time. The last of the High Prophets was dead at last.

'Vadam let Truth's corpse fall to the floor, roaring in triumph. Then he deactivated his sword and looked over at the Spartans. Fred nodded, acknowledging him for ending the life of the Prophet who declared war on humanity. They all looked at the sound of footsteps and saw Johnson carrying a now-shaking Miranda into the crashed Pelican, the Commander suffering from a delayed reaction, finally realizing just how close she'd come to dying.

There was a moment of silence before the ground began to tremble under their feet. Massive tentacles shot up all around them from below the platform, the Gravemind laughing maniacally as the Spartans and Elite stared up at the sickening tendrils made up of others' remains.

Johnson leapt into the Pelican's cockpit and took off, Miranda in the co-pilot's seat. The Spartans didn't even bother trying to climb onto the Control Panel of the Ark and jump onto the Pelican's landing gear; there were simply too many of them for the transport to get safely away. The Phaeton shot out of the Citadel after them, but it didn't go far.

**"Now the gate has been unlatched,"** the Gravemind rumbled, tentacles waving, **"headstones pushed aside... corpses shift and offer room, a fate you must abide!"**

Thel activated his plasma sword again as he came back to back with a handful of the Spartans. "We trade one villain for another."

The tentacles retreated, and the Phaeton returned, launching wave after wave of pulse missiles against the Flood further back in the chamber, letting the Spartans and the Arbiter deal with those on the control platform. But it cleared a path for them even as Johnson shouted over the COM, _"We can barely keep hold of her, Spartans! No way we can pick you up! Head back to the lift, find a way down!"_

The Flood leaped for the Phaeton, but it was too high up in the chamber; they just fell over the edge into the void below. The Spartans didn't question it, just ran back the way they'd come.

As they did so, another copy found them. _"I'm a _thief_, but I keep what I steal."_

The lift seemed to have been deactivated, but there was a flicker of blue light beyond, illuminating another smaller shaft of some kind. One by one, they dropped down it and found themselves in another hall deeper in the Citadel. This was lit only by what seemed to be emergency lighting - and a flickering image of Cortana, running down the hall at about waist-height on the Spartans.

They followed, and found a few Forerunners - not ones they recognized - guarding a small control panel. They watched as the humans and the Arbiter approached, and then one inclined their head towards the control panel. Fred pressed it.

There was a grind of metal on metal, and the blast door in front of them slid up, revealing the Foundry beyond. An incomplete Halo rose from the clouds beyond, surrounding the molten metal moon that had been used to build it, the fog sliding off the ring like water.

"It's here," said Sam, "It really is here."

Spark zipped forward to join them. "I almost didn't dare hope…" He turned to the humans. "What will you do?"

"Light it," Fred growled. Why was that even a question?

"Then we are agreed! A tactical pulse will completely eradicate the local infestation! I will personally oversee the final preparations." The Monitor zipped in an excited circle around them before racing for the ring, still talking. "Though it will take time to fabricate an activation index, I will see to the letter that..."

The Spartans watched him go, then looked to _High Charity_.

"Come with us," said one of the Forerunners, "We will take you up to the ring. Our Commander will retrieve Lady Cortana."

"That really isn't-"

She waived a hand as if to dispel their protests. "He knows the way to where she is and has the advantage of armor and weapons. You have none of those things, and he is already en route. He will retrieve her, and bring her to us."

"He was in that Phaeton we saw," said Nick, "the one that went into _High Charity_."

"Indeed. Have no fear, Spartans. The Commander will bring her safely to the Control Room."


	25. Twenty-Two: Beloved Clone

Twenty-Two: Beloved Clone

* * *

All was as he remembered.

John steered the Phaeton through the wreckage of _High Charity_, staying well out of range of any combat forms that may have been lurking below. He could feel the enemy Gravemind as a distant sense of hunger and wrath; its attention was not on him for the moment.

That would soon change.

[It's a beautiful day in a Flood Hive, and I am a horrible Spartan.]

Amidst the laughter of his Infected, he brought the Phaeton down on the ledge where he'd stopped his Banshee in the Origin and dropped out of the fighter. He checked his weapons and ammo, then signaled for Ironheart to take the Phaeton back to the _Fleet_. It buzzed off, and he jumped down to the level below.

A few Infection Pods scurried by, faint whispers on his mental radar. One of them burrowed into a Brute corpse, its whisper exploding into a shout, but he gunned it down before it could do any damage to him.

He sprinted down a short fleshy tunnel, moving further into the hive, and emerged into the cavern beyond, where more Infection Pods and recently-taken combat forms lurched for him. He powered through them and the ones that tried to drop on him from above; as much as he disliked being infected by the Flood, it did have its advantages.

The Porta ahead squelched open at his approach, and the enemy Gravemind at last turned its attention to him. **"Child of my enemy, why have you come? I offer no forgiveness; a father's sins, passed to his son."**

The room beyond was empty as expected, and he made his way over to the Porta through the floor. It opened, and he looked through, then jumped, his flesh crawling when Cortana laughed and wept. _"I tried to stay hidden, but there was no escape!"_ a warped copy gasped through the speakers of a crashed Pelican, _"He cornered me, wrapped me tight… and brought me close."_

A tight smile barely pulled at his lips. The enemy Gravemind wouldn't hold her for much longer.

He kept moving, listening to his AI's copies whimpering in the back of his mind. A Stalker form made the mistake of turning its back to him, and it paid for it with its life. More combat forms followed, blasted apart by his shotgun, and he briefly wished he had an extra pair of hands exclusively for reloading.

A trio of carrier forms came down a snaking path and released a flurry of Infection Pods that dove for the intact combat forms. They forced him to do battle against them for a second time before heading up the way they'd come.

He took cover next to the crashed Pelican and collected the dog tags from the bodies of the Marines lying close by, sticking them in the cockpit and closing it behind him. Then he emerged and claimed the flamethrower the humans had been using to defend themselves. It felt light in his hands despite its real weight, but its size still made it awkward to handle.

Even so, when a pair of Stalkers mutated to Tank forms and charged him, he squeezed the trigger and set them on fire. There were more behind them, and he advanced and retreated, advanced and retreated, cutting down wave after wave of combat forms before they finally stopped coming. John let out a slow breath, then kept moving, ducking under struts of Flood biomass that crisscrossed the room. He slid down the steep slope beyond and lifted the flamethrower again, mindful of the Blister pods on the walls.

The next Porta slid open before him. **"Of **_**course**_**, you came for **_**her**_**. We exist together now, two corpses in one grave."**

John ignored him. He paced through the hall, light filtering in through the rents in the hull and glinting off his armor.

"_A collection of lies, that's all I am!"_ In the Origin, Cortana had been laughing. Here, she was weeping. _"Stolen thoughts and memories!"_

"**And yet, perhaps a part of her… remains."** The Gravemind laughed maniacally, and its voice faded out into Cortana's.

The third Porta let him through, and he readied the flamethrower, sensing the Infection Pods skittering around in the room beyond, turning corpses of Brutes and Sangheili alike. There were eleven of them, and he unleashed the fire on them, squeezing the triggers in bursts to try to conserve fuel. Even so, he drained the tank by almost half before the last fell and broke apart.

He cracked his neck, then jogged up a ramp of biomass into a short tunnel. He dropped into a short hall just off the main bridge.

"_May I speak with you, please?"_ Cortana stated more than asked, _"What's your name? It's very nice to meet you. You like games? So do I."_

There were combat forms nearly everywhere, but he kept going anyway. He burned through the rest of the flamethrower's fuel, then threw it as an improvised weapon and took out two of the remaining combat forms. His shotgun tore through the remainder.

There was a terminal in the chamber under the central platform. _"It was the coin's fault! I wanted to make you _strong, _keep you _safe_!" _Cortana begged him to understand before her voice went flat and toneless._ "I'm sorry, I can't…"_

He headed up another ramp of biomass and into another short hall, where two carrier forms appeared almost right on top of him. He backpedaled, they popped, he fired, and the whole room was coated in Infection Pods in seconds. He switched to his plasma rifle and fired short bursts to take them out.

The cavern beyond had several Sangheili combat forms rushing in his direction, and he threw a plasma grenade into their midst, blowing them apart and letting him advance. But there were Ranged forms beyond, and he darted under cover for just long enough to activate his active camo, then stepped out again to get the lay of the land.

There were two of them clinging to one of the walls, and a third hanging upside down from a biomass beam. Beyond them was a pair of Tank forms, surrounded by combat forms and a swarm of Infection Pods.

'He's getting desperate.'

The other Infected murmured in assent, and John dropped his camo, primed and threw both an incendiary and a plasma grenade. As intended, the blast from the plasma threw the fiery material further and took out half a dozen combat forms as well, along with most of the Infection Pods. He used the distraction to fire on the two Ranged forms near each other.

"_I'm just my mother's shadow!" _the AI cried, her distress so real that the Change crawled through him, bulking up his muscles in preparation to defend her, _"Don't look at me, don't listen! I'm not who I used to be…"_

The Gravemind threw the survivors after him, but he was prepared for them. A frag grenade and a plasma detonated one after the other, but he was already gone, darting across the biomass beams and the protrusions from the wall that reminded him of the turkey tail fungus.

The Gravemind was trying to compensate for its split focus with sheer numbers, but it wasn't working. John gunned for the Ranged and Stalker forms, then dropped his spikers to his thigh plates and curled his fingers, triggering his armor's built-in and vibrant green plasma swords. The superheated blades scythed through the combat forms that threw themselves at him, and through one last Tank form waiting for him.

"**Time has taught me **_**patience!**_** But basking in new freedom, I will know **_**all that I possess!**_**"**

It was pissed, and perhaps a little afraid; he just kept coming, there was nothing it could do to stop him, nothing that he wasn't ready for. This tiny little Flood hive was nothing compared to the Forerunner-Flood War; the only fear he felt was for Cortana.

He kept moving, refused to stop even when he had half a dozen Ranged forms gunning for him at once. He darted forward under the arc of their fire and raced towards them, too fast for them to track accurately. The first three went down with a single wide swing, and then he lunged for the rest and all the others that followed.

"_I have walked the edge of the Abyss! I have seen your future, and I have learned!"_

**"**_**Submit!**_**End her torment and my own!"**

John did not respond to the bait as he splashed through a shallow pool of cloudy white fluid, and he slashed through a thin barrier of flesh into the reactor chamber just as one of them exploded.

The central control platform was connected to the rest of the room by the main bridge but also fleshy struts of Flood biomass, and he darted across one, got up underneath a Tank form, and threw it into the abyss below. A Stalker form tried to rush him, but he caught it by its pincers and dropped it after the Tank form. There were Ranged forms elsewhere in the chamber, firing their quills at him, and he abandoned his still-empty spikers in favor of a pair of plasma rifles.

The superheated gas burned their flesh with each hit, and one by one they lost their grip and fell after their fellows. When the area was reasonably clear, he dropped the rifles to his thigh plates, reactivated his swords, and ran for The Door. The combat forms tried to stop him, but they were no match for a determined Spartan.

Cortana appeared on his HUD, her crimson form tinted dangerously green. _"There will be no more Sadness, no more Anger, no more Envy!"_

**"You **_**will**_** show me what she hides!"** the Gravemind roared, **"Or I shall feast upon **_**your bones**_**!"**

John ignored him and kept running.

"_This is UNSC AI serial number CTN 0452-9. I am a monument to all your sins."_

He skidded to a stop before the door to the chamber where she hid. It refused to open, so he deactivated his swords and yanked open a wall panel, stripping some of the wires and bringing the correct ones together as they sparked in his hands.

The door turned from red to blue, and the central lock swirled and let the segments slide open. He saw the stasis field and reactivated one of the swords, bringing it down on the barrier. The magnetic fields overloaded it in an instant, and there was a flash of light that dazzled him for a moment before he heard her voice.

"You _found_ me..."

Almost immediately his heart rate slowed, a deep calm settling in. John let the sword dissolve and stepped closer to look down at her avatar. She was slumped against the surface of the holoprojector, dull and dark; he didn't need to hear her say it to know that she was not alright, and she knew it, too. Instead, he said, "You know me. When I make a promise..."

Cortana looked up, smiling with mixed joy and sorrow. "You... keep it," she whispered, brightening, fresh equations beginning a slightly stuttering flow along her body, "I _do_ know how to pick 'em."

"Lucky me," he murmured. Then, just to make sure, "Do you still have it?"

She pushed herself to her feet, then said, "The Activation Index from the first Halo ring." She held out a hand, and it appeared over her palm. "A little souvenir I hung onto… just in case."

They both looked toward the door when they heard sounds beyond. Then she turned back to him with a real grin. "Got an escape plan?"

"Thought I'd try shooting my way out," John answered as he straightened, his smile clear in his voice, "Mix things up a little."

He pried the Forerunner data chip from his helmet and held it out. She sorted herself in right away, and settled into his armor with a sigh. "Just keep your head down..." she said exasperatedly, knowing that there was no way in hell he was going to do so, "There's two of us in here now, remember."

The Spartan lifted his hands to reactivate his swords and ran for the door. Beyond, the Gravemind roared, **"Now, **_**at last**_** I **_**see**_**! Her secret is **_**revealed**_**!"**

"Go ahead and start the recompile, Cortana," said John, ignoring the Parasite, "I can take it from here."

"Okay," she said with a sigh, not even trying to argue. Her second fight with the Gravemind had taken more out of her than he thought.

Relentless Pursuit put a status bar on the very top of his HUD, above his shield indicator. He glanced at it only briefly before cleaving a Tank form in half, and the combat forms that followed close behind. The recompile would rewrite Cortana's Riemann thought-cycling matrix to the more efficient Forerunner Contender-class ancilla matrix. But in order to transfer her mind from one "brain" to another, almost akin to how Doctor Halsey had made her, they first had to download and sort all her data, either correcting or stripping out any corrupted information so it didn't affect the rewrite. Relentless - formerly Offensive Bias - was taking charge of that, working together with Winterspell and Stormwatch to maintain as much data integrity as possible. As an AI, her memories were her entire being, and to lose too many was unacceptable.

The Gravemind had brought in more Pure and combat forms in an attempt to stop him, but John just mowed through them, racing for the central console. He scooped up the Brute shot lying next to it and keyed the console to deploy the reactor pylons, then spun around to break a combat form on the Brute shot's blade. Then he started gunning for the pylons; the crash had made them remarkably fragile, and he was half-surprised they hadn't gone off already.

With rising keens, the pylons detonated one by one, and John ran for the exit. The doors burst open ahead of him, more combat forms streaming in, but the grenades were already in flight; the explosion barely made his shields shimmer as he raced through it, jumping down into the side tunnel. He only took care of the Flood that was in front of him or close behind, ignoring everything else in favor of escape.

He made it to the Pelican with time to spare, right as Relentless said, _"Lady Cortana. Your Grace, we're ready to begin."_

"How much data is salvageable?" Cortana asked.

"_Ninety-one percent."_

That startled a "Wow," out of her. John was equally surprised.

"_Indeed,"_ said Relentless, _"The short recompile from Alpha Halo seems to have run a lot of corrections already. Most of what was lost seems to be the tactile synesthesia from the enemy Gravemind in both the Origin and the Parallel."_

"That's no loss."

"_That was our thought as well. We are ready when you are."_

"Let's go."

John launched the Pelican right as a timer flashed up under the status bar on his HUD, signaling the start of the recompile and the time until it was complete. The heat from the Pelican's engines made the Gravemind's tentacles retreat before it could grab them, and they blasted off for the waiting Halo.


	26. Twenty-Three:Making Up for It in the End

Twenty-Three: Making Up for It in the End

* * *

The Pelican flew as smoothly as John could make it for the half-finished ring overhead. The recompile finished and the data upload started just as they were curving over to the inner side of the ring, aiming for the Control Room.

Over the COM, John heard Rtas say, _"We are aboard, humans and Elites. Will you not come with us, brother?"_

_"No," _the Arbiter answered from Halo's Control Room,_ "this is our fight, and I will see it finished."_

Miranda came on next. _"Johnson, Spartans, I've got the frigate. I'll bring her as close to the Control Room as I can."_

"Safe_ is better than _close_, Commander Keyes,"_ said John, since Cortana couldn't.

"_Roger that," _the woman agreed, _"You have Cortana?"_

"_Yes, ma'am. The Gravemind did some damage, but she'll be all right. Our ancillae are seeing to her now."_

"_Good. Tell her we're glad she's okay."_

"_Yes, ma'am."_

Cortana rebooted right as he brought the Pelican in for as gentle a crash as he could manage. "Halo," she murmured, "it's so new, unfinished. Is this what the others looked like under construction?"

"Something similar, yes," John answered, equally soft, "but unlike this one, the originals' firing mechanisms were finished _last_ to prevent any 'accidents.'"

"Smart."

The Spartan flipped on his active camouflage and waded through the thigh-deep snow on the ridge, following the path around to the tunnel that led to the Control Room. As he went, Mendicant Bias whispered to them both.

_You don't know the contortions I had to go through to follow you here, Commander. I know what you're here for. What position do I take? Will I follow one betrayal with another?_

_You're going to say I'm making a habit of turning on my masters. But the one that destroyed me long ago, in the upper atmosphere of a world far distant from here, was an implement far cruder than I. My weakness was capacity - unintentional though it was! - to choose the enemy Flood. A mistake my makers - and you - would not soon forgive._

_But I want something far different from you this time._

_Atonement._

_And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep all of you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. A few lives hardly balance billions._

_But I would have my masters know that I have changed._

_And you shall be my example._

* * *

"_Here they come!"_

Fred looked out over the snow. Fully half of the Spartan teams that had come to the Ark were arrayed on the levels of the Control Room ziggurat, along with the Arbiter and a dozen Forerunners with heavy weapons. Nothing was moving out there-

No, wait. By the tunnel. The snow was flying as if someone invisible was running through it, and when he zoomed in, he saw footprints leading back into the dark beyond.

"_Lady Cortana!"_

"_Your Grace, you made it!"_

"_It's good to see you, my lady!"_

The Spartans heard Cortana laughing over the COM and returning the Forerunners' greetings before she called a warning. _"Flood dispersal pods!"_

As one the Forerunners all lifted their weapons and started shooting at the Flood crashing down all around them, even as the Gravemind roared, **"DID YOU THINK ME **_**DEFEATED?!**_**" **

The invisible Commander raced for the ramp leading up from the snow, gunning down all of the Flood in his path, somehow without breaking camo - but it was Forerunner tech, better than anything the UNSC or the Covenant had. But Fred had no real time to think about it, more focused on engaging the Flood that landed in front of them.

**"Do I take life or **_**give it**_**?"** the Gravemind rumbled,** "Who is victim, and who is foe?"**

There seemed to be no end to it all, dispersal pod after dispersal pod slamming down into the canyon, but they all kept going. Johnson joined them finally, wielding a Spartan Laser, and between all of them, they managed to drive the Flood back. Fred decided that only Blue Team would enter the Control Room with Johnson and the Arbiter and signaled the others to collect all the ammo they could while the getting was good. The Forerunners retreated down to the snow below the ziggurat, out of the red zone so Spark could open the doors for them.

(Protocol dictated that Monitors were not permitted to reveal the nature of the _Fleet of Shadows_ to those who did not already know, but protocol also dictated that there was to be no Flood presence on the ziggurat for the main doors to open.)

(John was going to sneak in anyway, but Spark didn't know that.)

"_Hold out your hand, Sergeant,"_ said the Commander. Johnson blinked but did so, and from nowhere, Cortana's chip - new, sleek, and strong, glowing a benign sky-blue - dropped into his hand.

"_Good to see you, Sergeant,"_ she said warmly over the COM.

Johnson grinned at her chip. "Good to see you as well, ma'am. We're glad you're back."

"_More dispersal pods incoming," _said Ironheart.

"_We'd better hurry!"_

Johnson, the Arbiter, and Blue Team ran inside the moment the doors opened, and John slipped in after them, silent and unseen. The doors hissed shut behind them, and another set opened ahead.

They followed the path to the actual Control Room, and Blue Team and the Arbiter stood off to guard the door while Johnson (and John) approached the console.

Spark dropped down from above and accompanied the pair, humming to himself, then saying, "Oh, hello! Wonderful news - the Installation is almost complete!"

"_Terrific_," Johnson growled.

The Monitor seemed to have trouble understanding the reason for his irritation, so he simply replied, "Yes... isn't it?" There was a short but uneasy silence before he continued, "I have begun my simulations. No promises, but initial results indicate that this facility should be ready to fire...in just two more days!"

"We don't _have_ two more days," Johnson snapped back at him, tensing just a little when he felt John grab hold of his armor, but continued looking for a spot to insert Cortana's matrix.

Spark gave no indication that he was aware of the Commander's presence. "Bu-bu-but a premature firing will _destroy_ the Ark!"

_"Deal with it."_

The Monitor lowered his voice, barely audible. "...will destroy this Installation."

"_Sergeant, look out!"_ Cortana cried, and John yanked the man backwards, spinning to turn it into a throw and simultaneously taking the Galilean from his hand. Kelly was the first one to turn, and caught him but was knocked off her feet.

John dropped his active camo and dodged Spark's laser. Once they realized what was happening, the Spartans arrayed themselves in front of Johnson; he didn't have the benefit of personal shields the way they and the Arbiter did. But all their jaw dropped at the sight of the Supreme Commander in his MJOLNIR-inspired Forerunner armor - still green and black but sleeker, more advanced and streamlined - gunning for Spark with the Galilean.

All at once, the dream came back to them - the dream they'd had in cryo on approach to Alpha Halo.

"_**There is no need to fear; we will be with you. So arm yourselves. A storm is coming."**_

117\. Their brother.

He dropped to one knee while the laser charged, even as the Monitor cried, "The _Fleet_'s Compound Mind?! In the core?! Unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!"

The blast caught him before he could prepare his own and sent Spark spinning away, deflecting off one of the transparasteel plates that edged the walkway. The Monitor caught himself and fired back, which John dodged even though he didn't necessarily need to; his shields could have easily absorbed the hit. "You alright, Sergeant Major?!"

"I'm good!"

"_Get him, John, get him!"_

"I'm gettin' him, I'm gettin' him!" he shouted back to Cortana, squeezing off another shot even as Spark tried to use his energy field to knock him off the edge. The ancilla was thrown back again, casing cracked, plasma and liquid crystal spilling out onto the platform. "I a-a-a-am the Monitor of Installation Z-Zero F-Four!"" he cried, but it made no difference.

John fired the third and final shot, and with a cry of "_Oh myyyyyyyyyy-aaahh!_", the Monitor exploded in a flash of blue-white light. The Commander held position for a second longer, just in case, then straightened with a heavy sigh.

Before anyone could say anything, the ground rolled under their feet. _"Commander, the Gravemind's pressing hard! We need to go!"_

The Spartan whipped around. "Johnson!"

The man understood, and threw Cortana's chip to him even as he stumbled to his feet. John caught it with ease and raced for the console. Cortana jumped from the AI matrix and appeared only briefly on the console, just long enough to input the data for the Index, before she jumped back.

John slotted her back into his armor even as the ground rolled under his feet again, this time from the half-finished Halo preparing to fire. "Go! _Go!_" he shouted, waving the others ahead of him, even as the pillar of light and energy blasted skyward behind him.

The Control Room - the entire Halo - was falling apart, and they all ran for the main doors, Sam scooping up Johnson and throwing him over his shoulder to increase their speed. The rest of the Spartans and Forerunners were still there, fighting against the Flood and now the Sentinels as well. John let out an ear-splitting whistle to get their attention and shouted, "Round up - let's go!"

The Forerunners broke away in groups to make for the ice ramp Johnson had made, and the Spartans followed close behind, running in a scattered line along the ridge above the Control Room. Johnson shouted directions through the halls ahead, still jolting on Sam's shoulder, but now he had the Spartan's assault rifle in hand and was firing at their pursuers.

The group burst from the halls through the cliffs just in time for two Pelicans and a Forerunner troop transport to touch down in front of them. The human ships had been remote-piloted, and two of the Spartans threw themselves into the pilots' seats while the others streamed on board and strapped themselves in. But Fred hesitated. "Cortana?!"

"_I'm going with John!"_ she replied.

"HIGHCOM isn't gonna like that!"

"_HIGHCOM can suck my-"_

"_Cortana!"_ John interrupted, _"There are children present! Venera and Kenera have sensitive ears!"_

All three transports blasted off for their respective ships, the Forerunner transport shimmering and turning invisible. But the Spartans, Johnson, and the Arbiter weren't left to fend for themselves; a dozen unmanned Phaetons swooped down and around them, clearing their path back to the _Dawn_. The moment they were aboard, Miranda and her crew throttled the engines to maximum and sent them all screaming for the Portal.

"When will we see you again?"

"_Eventually? I don't know; I'm sure something will come up."_

The _Fleet_'s ships were jumping _away_ from the Portal, entering local Slipspace around the Ark so that they didn't go too far. The _Windchaser_ would be the last one away, waiting on the final dropship.

"_The war might be over, but I'm sure the fighting is far from finished. Good hunting, all of you,"_ said John.

"You as well, Commander," Fred managed before the darkness of Slipspace swallowed them both.

The energy of the ring continued to build at its focus, then burst outward in a wave, in an ever-expanding sphere, rolling over the Halo itself, the Ark, all of the local space. Even as the ring shook itself to pieces, the world went white.


	27. Epilogue: Farewell to the Past

Epilogue: Farewell to the Past

* * *

On a hillside near the Gateway to the Ark, which was shut down following the _Dawn_'s return to Earth, Marines gathered for a memorial service for the fallen. But they were not alone this time; they were joined by Rear Admiral Jacob Keyes, recently-promoted Captain Miranda Keyes, Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson, Doctor Catherine Halsey, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, and all seventy-five of the Parallel Spartans. Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood stood at the more-or-less head of the gathering, all eyes upon him as he removed his cap and began to speak.

"For us," he said, "the storm has passed. The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark, and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure..."

_The whole of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ wound up entering Earth's atmosphere at too high a speed, streaking over the African continent. Unable to reduce forward momentum in time, she crashed into the Indian Ocean._

"...sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight, _our_ fight, was elsewhere."

_Fortunately for everyone onboard, the _Dawn_ floated, at least for a time, and an engineering crew cut them free and brought them to shore. She sank not long after, but it didn't take too long before work began to raise her once more._

"As we start to rebuild," the Fleet Admiral continued, "this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall _not_ be forgotten." He put his cap back on and saluted, the other military personnel present moving to do the same.

"Present arms!" Sergeant Stacker shouted, and the Marines with him lifted their battle rifles. Each fired off three shots - a twenty-one gun salute for all the fallen in the Human-Covenant War. The echoes reverberated over the plains long after the Marines lowered their weapons.

One by one, the group dispersed, though the Spartans remained behind with their "mother", circulating amongst themselves and waiting to be dismissed. But they inclined their heads to the Arbiter as he passed, a gesture he returned as he joined Lord Hood next to the monument. The Pelican wing was decorated with pictures and insignias of the fallen.

"I remember how this war started," Hood began, "What your _kind_ did to _mine_. I can't forgive you. But… You have my thanks. For fighting with us in the end." He held out his hand, and the Arbiter shook it. After letting go, the human sighed quietly. "Hard to believe it's over."

The Arbiter hummed, then said, "Were it so easy. I agree with the Holy Ones' Commander in this - the war is over, but the fighting is far from finished."

* * *

The Arbiter returned to the _Shadow of Intent_, where Rtas was standing on the bridge, arms crossed as he stared at a holographic image of Earth. When he noticed the other Sangheili, he dropped his arms and said, subdued, "Things look different, without the Prophets' lies clouding my vision. I would like to see our own world - to know that it is safe."

"Fear not," the Arbiter said, resting a hand on Rtas' shoulder before padding on past him, "For we have made it so." He thumped his fist to his chest.

"By your word, Arbiter." The Shipmaster returned the gesture.

The Arbiter sank down in the command chair and told the bridge crew, "Take us home."

Minutes later, the _Shadow of Intent_ left Earth orbit to rejoin the remains of the Separatist fleet in space, and they departed the Sol System for Sangheilos.


End file.
